Noah Four and a Half Years: A Portrait

Our happy and smiley little guy at 4.5 years (the pictures were taken a day or two after he turned 4.5 years old despite the dating of this post):

For the stats, Noah is 19.3kg and about 109cm.

Since the last portrait post a while ago, the main changes, I think are: 1) he is a big brother! (yes the last of such posts was quite a while ago) He loves his little sister and overall has adapted very well to sharing our attention and is generally helpful and caring; 2) he started a new school, since September Noah started going to a bilingual English-French school called la Petite Ecole. It follows the French system but half of his time is English and half in French. The approach to learning is different than in his old school and he seems to like it a lot. Noah has also been spending more time at school. He gets home around 4:15 on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays and at 1:15 on Wednesdays and Fridays, 3) he is even more independent physically - Noah will play for long stretches of time on his own with his legos or his cabanes and we hear him inventing scenarios - also choosing his clothes and dressing himself without prompting, going to the bathroom on his own both at home and out, 4) along with the physical independence, Noah also developed greater intellectual independence - he has clear opinions about how things should be and wants a say in everything - this sometimes translates in asserting a difference in opinion when he didn't really care (or so we think) just to have his say; and 5) since his ear operation, he now hears well (so no more shouting NOAH, NOAH 10 times before he can hear us) and his pronunciation is getting better and better (he is still working on and will be getting a little help perfecting his "s", "ch", "k" and "g" and the English "r" at the beginning of a word).

Note that we are not doing a bullet point "Noah CAN" section because at this age it no longer seems applicable - in summary, Noah can now can swim better (they teach him the crawl as well as the doggie paddle and the breaststroke). He can ride his two wheel bike well and his two-wheel scooter well. He is reading better and better (though still simple words) in both English and French (we play games like find the note or ball where he has to read the directions "go look on Maman's bed" or "go look under Daddy's desk"... and we play a variation of charades - I wrote out in English and French names of animals and he reads the names and then acts out the animal and we have to guess). He is better able to tell stories and understand more complex and longer books. 

At 4.5 years old Noah according to Noah LIKES

• Swinging - which he has been able to do on his own now for about a year;
• Staying at home (Noah can be a bit of a homebody at times);
• Playing games like Busytown, sets, connect 4, Naviplouf (battleship for kids);
• Riding his bike (he has gotten very good on his bike); and
• Riding his new two-wheel scooter.

.... and then he lost interest in this exercise!

Noah on his old scooter

and again

The new  2 wheel scooter

In addition to the above, at 4.5 years old, according to us, Noah LIKES:

• Building "cabanes" out of pillows and chairs and tables (our living room is constantly being rearranged) and hiding in them;
• Playdates: Noah still has regular weekly playdates with his friends around Singapore. Some friends he has seen every week for over 3 years (Daniel, and Matthias and Jeanne - Kathryn left the country unfortunately) and some new weekly playdates (with our new neighbor Kien) and occasional playdates with friends from his new school and from his old school;
• His sister;
• Playing hide-and-seek especially with Maya;
• Putting on shows for Maya (and us but mostly Maya);
• Feeding Maya;
• Cooking - I took him to a kids' cooking class a few weeks ago and he LOVED it and has been asking to go back for another one every day since then. He also loves cooking with his father and has become a helpful sous-chef. His favorite thing is breaking eggs... and tasting everything;
• Food and eating - Noah is still a big foodie - planning his gouters and writing menus and helping decide what we will eat for the week;
• "Art" - he loves drawing and painting and collaging. He recently started an after school art-science class where they learn about animals  or nature and then draw/paint/recreate them;
• Cutting paper into pieces or cutting along lines;
• Legos - during his "quiet time", Noah makes buildings out of legos;
• New books - Noah is less excited than before about hearing the same books over and over and more interested in reading new longer books. In English, he loved Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and the Great Glass Elevator, Boing Boing the Bionic Cat in Space, Pippi Long Stocking. In French, we have been reading the Pere Castor collection of stories;
• Sesame Street - he does not get to watch it very often but enjoys it a lot and talks about Super-grover and elmo quite a bit;
• Going to Sentosa: Sentosa is still probably his favorite place to go to -especially since we went to Universal Studios but he also loves luging and riding the elevator ride and watching people fly in the wind tunnel and taking the monorail or the gondolas;
• Toy and book exchanges;
• Giving and receiving kisses and hugs - he is still very affectionate and cuddly both with us and his friends; 
• Telling us he loves us (and hearing that we love him); and
• School and his friends at school:  he comes home telling us all kinds of stories about dragons and wolves and about his drama class and his friends.

Kissing Maya

He looks so caring and big-brotherly in this picture 

Talking about school, Noah just got his first "report card" from the Petite Ecole and this is what his teachers had to say about him: 

"Noah is an exceptionally bright and caring child. He displays characteristics of a natural life-long-learner. Throughout the first semester Noah has exhibited many characteristics that make him an excellent communicator. He enjoys expressing ideas, information and opinions and is able to state his thoughts clearly. Noah is inquisitive and frequently asks questions relevant to the topic, therefore demonstrating his skills as an inquirer. He is responsive to the needs of other[sic] and shows sensitivity towards differences and diversity. Noah cooperates well with classmates in a variety of situations. He has developed his skills to gain facts, ideas and vocabulary and is able to retain this information. Noah listens carefully to others, directions and information. Noah is able to recognize his letters and form them correctly. Keep up the wonderful things you are doing Noah! It has been an absolute pleasure teaching Noah :)" 

And his French teacher:

"Noah est un petit garçon actif, perspicace, toujours souriant et très agréable. Il est responsable, et toujours partant pour toutes les activités.

Très sociable, et respectueux des règles de vie du groupe, il participe avec enthousiasme à la vie de classe. Noah est serviable et toujours prêt à aider que ce soit ses camarades ou bien lors des moments de rangement de la classe.

Lors des ateliers, Noah est de plus en plus appliqué, il est autonome et sait faire preuve d'initiative. C'est en outre, un petit garçon intéressé et passionné, qui n'hésite pas à poser des questions pertinentes et exprimer sa volonté d'apprendre. Noah a d'ailleurs fait de véritables progrès en langage qui est de mieux en mieux construit et qu'il utilise de façon de plus en plus précise pour partager avec ses camarades des idées astucieuses. Un très bon début d'année dans les domaines de pré-lecture, graphisme et numération-dénombrement. Noah a toujours beaucoup d'idées lors des activités de création et de production et il est toujours enthousiaste à les partager avec ses camarades.

Félicitations pour un très bon début d'année, bravo Noah!!! Continue ainsi, c'est très bien!"

The above, pretty much captures him these days - curious about the world and interested in learning and helping out. At home, he is also sometimes stubborn and contrarian, especially if he is hungry or the food selection is not what he would like it to be or he wants more attention. 

At 4.5 years old Noah DISLIKES:

• Being told what to do and when to do and how to do it - he is a big boy and knows how things work and has very clear opinions of what he wants and how things should work;
• Not having food the instant he feels hungry;
• Photoshoots and taking lots of pictures - this is new - he used to love taking pictures but now is less excited about it and is less comfortable posing;
• Not having the food he would like to eat (mostly this comes up at breakfast and gouter); and
• Not having as much attention as he would like.

4.5 year old Noah

Maya at Three Months and Noah at Three Years

Also on the day of Maya's quarter of a year birthday, we took some pictures of her with her big brother... He is still so sweet with her - giving her her pacifier when she cries and still requesting to give her her bottle whenever I pump, starting up her mobile when the music has stopped and giving her some toys.

He looks soooo big compared to her. His feet are double the size of hers...

And his hands are too...

He really wanted to hold her but by then she had had enough... we got one picture in

Later on after a nice nap and change of clothes

Three Years and a Half: A Portrait

Here is our little guy (who is not so little anymore) at three and a half years... still as smiley and happy. 

For the stats, he is 1m4cm (about 41 inches) and weighs 16.3kg (36 pounds) (according to my home measurements).

The main changes since the last post three months ago (see Three years and three months: a portrait post), I would say, are: 1) He still is interested in everything but his interests have further deepened; for example he is now very much into anything space related and wants to know all about the big bang, the planets, asteroids, moons... and asks to watch YoutTube clips about space stations and satellites, 2) He is out of the "why" phase - he still asks a lot of questions and always demands an explanation, but his automatic response to anything you say is no longer why, 3) He increasingly plays WITH his friends making up scenarios and stories and games, negotiating the sharing of toys and taking of turns and 4) His speech is even more complex and his diction is even clearer. 

Our little monkey.

Noah CAN (abilities in no particular order and in addition to those listed in the 3 year + 3 month portrait post):

• Provide useful sous-chef help in the kitchen. He has become much more capable in the kitchen and needs less guidance with the things he can do. He can wash veggies and remove the stalks (e.g., for mushroom), he can break eggs into a bowl without getting (too much) shell in, he can measure out flour and liquids in a cup and put the right amount in and grate large amounts of cheese.  He can stir things as they cook (we supervise him on that one), man the blender (no touching the blade though!), make balls of dough and roll them out (e.g., for pita bread), remember ingredients and steps for various recipes, and tell me what to do next when helping with a recipe he has done with his dad previously. By far his favorite aspect of cooking is buzzing the food processor (e.g., making "carrots beep") and cracking eggs. And, of course, tasting the food along the way. If you're not paying attention, he can taste his way through an entire bell pepper and a few cloves of garlic.
• Swing  his own  swing pumping his legs; he was almost there a few weeks ago and last week I took him to a nearby playground with a swing and he had it - pumping his legs and swinging his entire body to create momentum - I don't know why but it felt so great to see him happily swinging on his own; 
• Go to the bathroom and wipe his butt on his own (though he will often come out and ask me to check whether all is clean before putting his clothes back on - it is almost always clean);
• Move all the chess pieces appropriately; I don't think I had told Noah about Tonton Charles's love and mastery of chess yet Noah showed much interest in the game and in learning to play chess; I bought him a set for Hannukah and he got some books and chess learning games from Tonton since then and he has learned to move all the pieces and do very simple problems; 
• Play with his friends making up scenarios and games - just the other day, he picked up a rock from the ground which became a pet rock named "Montessori" (his name choice) and he and his friend Kathryn took Montessori to art class (Montessori had to draw in the sand), and to the slide, and to nap and when Montessori was in a bad mood after his nap, they rocked him (i.e., ran around the playground while holding him); Noah has also gotten much better at negotiating a relationship and compromising and figuring out how to share and take turns without parental intervention (though parental intervention is still necessary sometimes); and
• Do 50 piece puzzles on his own.

Little monkey monkeying around

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

• Not getting his way - this never changes and almost always involves food. Overall though he is pretty easy to manage even when he does not get his way; 
• Waking up too fast and moving fast in the morning (especially when it comes to eating breakfast) or after his nap. It had become pretty hard to get him out the door in the morning so we started a new routine a little while ago where he dresses before eating breakfast and we provide him a clear choice every morning. He can either fuss/whine/drag along but if he chooses that path and we are not able to make it out the door by 8:30, the next morning, he eats breakfast at school instead of at home or he can cooperate and eat breakfast at home tomorrow morning. Since he was presented with this new routine and choice, he has been much better in the morning.
• Coloring in drawings made by others (ie coloring). He can do so pretty well when he tries but finds it very boring and generally does not put very much effort into it (when I asked him in view of doing this blog entry what he disliked - coloring was his only response!).
• Not getting to do/eat what the adults are doing and eating. He is a big boy and does not appreciate being treated like a little boy.

 

Noah working on his "sad face" - he still can't fully wipe out the smile from his face

Noah working on his surprised (?) face

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

• Playdates: Noah still has regular weekly playdates with his friends around Singapore. It has been the same friends every week for the last 2.5 years, and he is enjoying it more and more.  (As we described above, they invent games, scenarios, and imaginary worlds to live in.) When asked about what he likes, this was his first, immediate answer.
• Swinging: Noah is always asking to go to the "new playground" (which we have now been going to for the last year and is no longer the newest playground we discovered in our neighborhood but it has remained the "new playground" - something like the "pont neuf" in Paris). The main attraction of the new playground is that it has swings, and Noah loves to swing.
• Climbing on slides/walls: Noah likes to climb on everything he can!
• Art class, computer class and speech and drama: Just this month, Noah's school introduced some specialty segments. He now has a special art teacher for an hour every day, and he has "computer class" and "speech and drama" once a week. He loves the art class---we'll post some photos of his many masterpieces shortly ---and he looks forward every week to his other classes.

According to us, Noah also LIKES:

• "Why" books: Noah always wants to understand how things work. Everything. A few of his most recent queries: Why do onions make you cry? Are there more girl ants than boy ants in an ant colony? What do you eat in the country of Nauru? How do snakes have babies? Why is there fire when a rocket launches? We have recently started our own notebook where we write his questions, look up and jot down the answers, and then Noah illustrates. 
• Books (and videos, and photographs) about space: One of his most frequent topics of interest is space. How did the moon get up there? How many moons does Jupiter have? Why do we only have one moon when Jupiter has more than 60? Why is there no one on Mars? How did the robot (the Mars Rover) get to Mars, and what is it doing there, right now? Why does the moon change size? Why aren't the astronauts on the space station wearing their suits? (And can I see a video of them wearing their suits?)
• YouTube videos: He has learned that the answers to everything can be found on YouTube. There are clips of astronauts and anteaters and everything else you might want to know about.
• Books, especially (these days) the Gruffalo, various Dr. Seuss books, Comment On Fait les Bebes, Le Doudou des Camions Poubelles. Just the other day, a visitor sat down to read him the Gruffalo. But it became quickly clear that really what he wanted was to read the Gruffalo to her. Well, he can't actually read, but he can fool you sometimes. We've only had this book for a few weeks, so we were surprised he knew it so well.
• The Lorax movie. We still have movie night every once-in-a-while and Noah very much enjoys and looks forward to it. These days when asked to pick the movie, he usually goes for the Lorax.
• Theater, especially theater for kids. He recently saw "The Cat in the Hat" and "The Gruffalo." During the show, he laughed, participated where appropriate, and generally had a great time. During "The Cat in the Hat," he asked lots of questions about what was going on, but for "The Gruffalo," which we saw a few months later, he had figured out what this whole theater thing was all about and was really into it.
• Origami: Noah has recently decided to help decorate his sister's room. Since he likes folding paper (and cutting, and gluing, and tearing), we have been teaching him some simple origami.  His origami skills are not entirely honed yet but he enjoys trying and likes the finished product. He is also making some drawings to go on her wall both at school and at home.
• Drawing: If we are busy with something and leave him to entertain himself, he will most likely sit at his table and draw pictures.
• Cooking: Noah still loves to cook, both real and imaginary food.
• Eating: As always.
• Going to Sentosa: riding the monorail, watching the people fly in the wind tunnel, play on the beach, go to the aquarium, do some luging and ride the "elevator" (a large viewing platform which goes all the way up and then turns slowly so its passengers can see the view).
• Playing games with us such as candy land, snakes and ladders, I spy, find the penny, orchard, connect four... he has gotten very good at figuring out how to play his games but also the new games we get every week for toy exchange.
• Toy and book exchange.
• Going to the library and picking out new books to bring home.
• Looking countries/cities up on his globe.
• Maps and figuring out what street we are on, where we are going, how we get from place A to place B.
• Giving and receiving TONS of hugs and kisses - he is very affectionate these days.
• His little sister-to-be: he always talks about her and kisses my tummy and tells her he loves her and asks her what she is doing right now.
• Watching the "word on the street" sesame street video podcast which provides in a fun way the meaning of a word - so far we have watched veterinarian, persistent, remember... etc. The other day, we watched "activate" and later that day he used the word correctly in a sentence - so cute.
• Piling stuffed animals in his bed. In his old small bed, he was allowed three animals as there was no room for more but now that he is in his big boy bed, there is plenty of room and I have noticed that more and more animals are ending up in there. 
• Making "sculptures" out of chairs and rubber bands.

Overall, this is a great age - Noah at 3.5 years is a fun kid who is generally enthusiastic about everything he is doing. He is interested in the world around him and can and will carry on long and complex conversations about any topic. He is pretty independent but still loves to cuddle and give and receive tons of kisses and tells us he loves us all the time.  He has not lost his stubborn streak (luckily) but we can generally come to some agreement about how to proceed in whatever situation. Noah is a great little guy and a pleasure to be with and interact with (in my very unbiased opinion of course).

Hanging in there!

Ziplining?

I wonder if I can jump down from up here?

Maman - what do you think?

Peekaboo

Made it up

Hmmm the view is pretty nice from up here.

Are you going to come up and join me?

I found a nice drum up here!

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).

Two-And-a-Half Years Old: A Portrait

Noah just recently turned 2.5 years old. It has been a while since we posted a what Noah can do/dislikes/likes/is like post. In part that is because we post major milestones as they show up but also because progress seems well more progressive. You don't really notice anything for a while and then suddenly realize he is playing completely independently in the playground, or is making complex grammatically correct intelligible sentences (the other morning he told me: "je veux rester ici pour finir mon caca" "I want to stay here so I can finish my caca" - he was taking advantage of his night diaper...). Independence and language I would say are the two biggest changes over the past six months. But here goes... progress we have noted in the last six months.

Noah CAN (Physical abilities in no particular order):

• Climb ladders, nets, and kiddie climbing walls  and  go down slides (even the steep tunnel ones) on his own;
• Concentrate on a task for a long period of time (for example, he will spend quite a while focusing on his letters and reading - asking for more when I inquire if he has had enough);
• Dress and undress himself (though he often still wants help to speed the process up and is not entirely efficient when removing his T-shirt sometimes getting lost in there);
• Play independently in a playground (climb around and entertain himself);
• Go to the potty on his own (take his clothes off, pee and put them back on though he still often likes me to watch him and/or help);
• Whine copiously when he is not happy with a situation;
• Wear underwear without accidents (he has not worn diapers for the last four months during the day except for occasional poops which he will now do in the toilet with some regularity - as to pee, he prefers to pee standing up outside in the bushes or in Chinese style squat toilets but at home he will pee sitting down either in his pot or on the toilet);
• Draw a circle, a cross, a straight line and an approximation of a boat, a snowman, a sun and a cloud!
• Blow bubbles in the water, glide underwater (as long as I am there to catch him on the other side), kick kick kick, jump into the water (when asked to);
• Play independently for a little while with his trains, his cars, his cards or other games;
• Throw a convincing crying fit for a peccadillo and stop it on command (he is usually pretty rational and will stop his crying when I tell him to first listen to me and then if he thinks crying is the best solution, keep crying);
• Jump up and down, jump forwards, jump off of coffee tables and other objects;
• Stand on one foot for 7 seconds (on either the left or the right foot);
• Ride a tricycle (I just found out about this ability the other day when he grabbed one of the school tricycles and started peddling around as we were heading home);
• Ride his scooter (he has gotten pretty good with the breaks now though on the steep hill by our building, he still likes the reassurance of having me next to him); and
• Ride his 2 wheel balance bike (he can "ride" around well and steer it and has let go and balanced for a few secs at a time).

 

A climbing Noah

Noah CAN ALSO (other abilities in no particular order):

• Sing the ABC song in English, French and... Spanish (he has a singing table that has a Spanish option and, of course, that's his favorite so he listens to the Spanish alphabet a lot and seems to have learned it!);
• Recognize and identify in English and French all the big (capital) and little (lower case) letters and read simple words like Papa, Mama, Dada, dodo, bobo, Lola, Papy, Noah (see the Lots of Letters post for more on reading), and more recently, moto, pipe, gigi;
• Make friends and meet people easily (he is pretty sociable and generally is not shy - just yesterday I heard him say "hello, my name is Noah" with a big smile to a woman at the playground he had never met before - he also tends to go towards younger kids and try to help them up the stairs or help them walk or slide - it's very cute and he is soooo gentle with them as long as they are willing to be helped if not... well he is still gentle but perhaps a bit more insitant than they would like);
• Be a very cheeky little monkey (Noah, don't touch that, it's dirty, Noah touches it with one finger with a silly grin on his face);
• Identify his left hand and his right hand in French (his left arm has some freckles on it and he has learned that in case of doubt, check for freckles);
• Recognize and name 11 colors in French (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, pink, black, white, brown and grey) and 7 colors in English (black, white, brown and grey do not seem to have made it fully in English yet);
• Play and get excited about interactive games (like memory, orchard, simple card games, dominoes, bingo and just recently tic-tac-toe);
• Name at least 15 of his friends as well as recognize and identify (from pictures) his grandparents and aunts and uncles (and a 15 year old maman);
• Say please and thank you without prompting (with some exceptions of course);
• Translate from English to French and French to English (if I ask him in French - go ask Daddy for the book - he will go to Daddy and quite naturally translate my sentence into English for Daddy - same the opposite way. Also, if he says a word we don't really understand in one language, we ask him to say it in the other and he will translate it - or if we point to a picture and ask how would maman say this word, how would daddy say it - he will do that too);
• Recite 0-20 in French (though he sometimes skips 16) and 0-12 in English; count 10 objects (though sometimes he needs help not counting the same object twice and he can go farther if I point to the objects and he says the numbers); do simple additions in the context of his fingers (ex one finger and one finger are two fingers, two fingers and two fingers are four fingers, five fingers and five fingers are ten fingers); do simple subtractions when applied to subway stops (there are four subway stops and we have done one, how many more stops are there?)
• Put his Daddy or Maman to bed with stories, kisses, rabbit and all;
• Speak in full grammatical sentences (though he regularly "chooses" to take some liberty with grammar, he still has a problem with masculine/feminine in French - he uses "mon" instead of "ma" like "mon chaise" instead of "ma chaise" - I wonder if that is because he only hears me, a woman, speaking French and assumes that for him it should be masculine - also, he has made much progress with his diction but some of his words are still garbled - in particular, he has trouble with the "f", "l" and "r" sounds);
• Get strangers to give him food (because he looks so under-nourished right??? He really has the technique down - hover, smile, comment on the food, and sometimes even ask nicely but most of the time that last step is not even necessary!); 
• Spell out his full name in English and French (N-O-A-H  G-I-L...);
• Remember promises of food, activities or toys (Noah almost never forgets a promise for a future item and will remind me when the appropriate time comes that he should get his orange or car or that I promised to play cherries with him - even the next day);
• State his address and where he lives (5... ... in front of the Tiong Bahru MRT); and
• Sing many many songs in English and French (and a few in Chinese) (he will often break into song when walking or sliding or strollering or just hanging out). 

Noah standing on one foot 

Noah DISLIKES (also in no particular order):

• Drinking his milk in the wrong glass or getting the wrong milk (soy or cow or powder);
• Not having his gouter when he wakes up from his nap;
• Not getting his way  (for example, not getting to wear the clothes, shoes he wants to wear);
• When we open the doors and press the buttons in the elevator for him;
• When his friends are away on vacation;
• When we don't pay enough attention to him;
• Not being given the phone when his grandparents or aunts and uncles call; and
• Changing his diaper (which luckily does not happen very often).

Noah disliking the fact that we took his milk away because he was

 purposely spilling it all over the place and refusing to ask for it back nicely

Noah LIKES (in no particular order): 

• Daddy coming home at night;
• Figuring out how things work, especially doors and locks but also cameras and retractable pens (he will spend long periods of time trying to figure out how an unfamiliar lock or door works and take apart a pen and try to put it back together again (usually with little success));
• Trains and planes both toy ones and real ones (he loves watching planes take-off and land on youtube and playing with his toy trains...);
• Food ( he loves garlic and chickpeas and still likes spicy food though one of his favorite dishes these days is the Singapore national dish of chicken rice and of course he still loves fruit but he has also discovered chocolate which he would never turn down) and going to restaurants with Daddy and Maman (he is generally very well behaved at restaurants happily munching away at his spicy curries or japanese ginger);
• Cooking (both watching daddy cook and actively helping);
• Snowy the snowman (a recent present from Charmie, Snowy is now one of his favorite plush toys, Snowy now sleeps with and takes gouter with Noah and watches Noah drink his milk);
• His playdates and friends (when a friend is away on vacation he repeatedly asks for him/her and is all sad when I tell him they are away for now; he also gets very excited about his various playdates and asks about them);
• Wearing his uniform to school, his home comfy clothes at home and his normal clothes outside or when friends are over (though sometimes he is a bit reluctant to change out of his home clothes for visitors); 
• Petting and snuggling against Lhasa, telling Lhasa off when she is trying to munch on the plants;
• Drawing, painting and doing crafts;
• Playing "Bip" (a card matching game), "cherries" and "new cherries" (variations on the orchard  game with a dice and fruit to pick), bisous, dodo (another card game where you try to put a little girl/boy to bed and receive kisses, hugs, tickles... along the way), memory and dominoes;
• Going to Ya Kun Kaya for some egg and kaya toast on the weekend;
• Drawing letters on the iPad;
• Peeing while standing up either outside behind bushes or in the Chinese style squat toilets (very useful for that purpose);
• Watching his stories on Sunday mornings (GG and Grandpa gave Noah these scholastic dvds in which famous kids' books are read and animated);
• Pressing the button in the elevator;
• His bike and scooter (he even accepts to wear his helmet without much of a fuss anymore);
• His camera and taking pictures of everything and nothing, reviewing old pics/videos we took of him and going through our old picture albums and finding young mommy and daddy;
• Looking up places on his world map;
• Talking on the phone (his aptitude is not quite at the level of his excitement);
• Cuddling (especially when he wakes up from his nap);
• Letters (identifying letters, playing with letters (ex letter bingo, letter puzzles) and reading combinations of letters);
• Explaining things to people (if I tell him what we will be doing this afternoon, he will turn to Charmie or his Dad and explain to them (in English) what we the plans are or he will explain what he is currently doing or about to do to us but also sometimes to bystanders);
• Numbers (identifying numbers, counting items, "there are three crayons", "there are four cars"..., counting down stops in the subway, Maman: We started with five stops and have done one stop, how many stops are left. Noah: "four", learning his 20s, 30s, 40s... instead of picking the songs he wants to sing from the song book by flipping through the pages and choosing based on the drawings he recognizes, he chooses by looking  at the table of contents and picking out the page numbers thus slowly learning the higher numbers);
• His books and reading them with us (some of his favorites these days are the Emilie books, Fonce Petit Train, Chicka Chicka 1,2,3, and How do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight);
• Singing and "playing" the piano (yesterday he sat at our friends piano tapping out some notes while singing along happy birthday Mamie; his favorite songs to sing are, according to him, Bumblebee, London Bridge is falling down, Row Row Row Your Boat, Wheels on the Bus and Fait Dodo, Pirouette Cacahouette, Un Crocrodile, Promenons-nous dans les Bois);
• Listening to audio books while flipping though the pages of the book; and
• Jumping (on the floor, off of the coffee table or bed...).

Noah's January craft window for Chinese New Year (he colored 

the dragons and put the ribbons on and made the good luck oranges 

(with some help)

   

Overall, Noah is a lot of fun (especially when he is not whining or playing cheeky monkey!). He has his crazy active moments but is usually very poised and concentrated on whatever he is doing. He is cuddly and loving but also increasingly independent. He is curious about the world and interested in learning (curiously, though he keenly observes the world and tests it, he rarely asks why or what questions - perhaps because we jump the gun and explain away a lot). He is rapidly becoming a wonderful little chatterbox. He is often cautious at first (more so than some of his peers) but once he gains confidence he is intrepid (often more so than the same peers). He is gentle and (mostly) generous (even when it comes to sharing his favorite foods). He loves people and being around people. He is almost always on his best behavior when around others and seems to show real empathy when other children are hurt or sad. He is (in my very unbiased opinion!) an endearing little boy who is joyful and excited about life, his friends and his activities.

A joyous Noah