Pris Adventures: Dear Gabriel

Dear Gabriel

You're 2 months shy of your 2nd birthday and Mummy is too many months shy of your monthly updates!

You are one rambunctious, über sweet, super loud and altogether too cute little darling!

As a second child, you've had to learn to make yourself heard. Your 哥哥 (older brother) is always complaining about how you "scream in his ears" and bite him.

To be fair, you don't scream in his ears but you scream so loudly that your brother thinks that you're screaming in his ears.

And sadly enough, biting, hitting and other forms of pain infliction are included in your extensive list of self-defense mechanisms. Or shall I also say "scaring people off" techniques.

You do respond very well to time outs though. You would readily gesture "Sorry" which involves a clapping together of your fists. Thereafter you would proceed to hug your brother.

But before Mummy can relax and enjoy a few moments of peace, more often than not, I would hear

"Oh Mummy, Gabe Gabe bit me... AGAIN!"

That's the glamorous life of being a Mom!

But Gabriel you can be sooo sweet too! You would hardly ever kiss on demand. So whenever you take the initiative to kiss us on the lips, it would completely take us by surprise and our hearts would melt in that instant!

You're still not speaking much but you have no problem making yourself understood.

Whenever Mummy asks you if you want "milk" or anything for that matter, you would raise your hand up in the air! Just like a little schoolboy! Have no idea where you learnt that from, but it's too cute!

Whenever you know that we're heading out the door, you would open the shoe cupboard, take out your shoes and pass them to me.

One thing I really must commend you about is that you are very often the first person at the dining table waiting for your food. Warms my heart to see that someone in the family takes his food business seriously!

When the food comes, you'll devour your food at lightning speed and your appetite at 22 months is voracious! I'm pretty sure you eat as much as, if not more than your brother who's 2 years older than you!

You're still very much Mummy's little boy. In the mornings when your brother goes to Kindy, you'll wake up together with me and we'll have a leisurely breakfast together. Thereafter, you'll either go play with your toys while Mummy tackles some housework or we'll go cycling together (with you sitting behind me) whenever the weather is good.

Once a week, we take the train down to town to run some errands and grab some lunch before heading home to pick your brother up by 1.30pm. I really treasure those one-on-one times with you because it's less stressful with one kid! hee. No really, I really enjoy looking at the world through your eyes! You're always observing and pointing at things and going "Da! Da!" And I would be saying, "Train!" "Bus!" "Plane! and repeat 100 times!

In the trains, you would always be on the lookout for people who would give you their attention and you would play "peek-a-boo" with them. Mummy would warn them that you could carry on with your game for hours!

Your words these days are "Papa" "Mama", "Ge Ge", "ball". Not much I know! But oh so cute!

You love to wave at people and at things! Whenever we need to leave, you would wave at your toys or at your surroundings before you do so.

You continue to have a fiery streak in you. You've thrown your toys on the floor umpteen times such that I've had to give you time outs because you've created dents in the floor because of the impact!

It's such a joy watching you and your brother bond together. He's ever so protective over you and you're always watching him, sometimes in a very admiring and "I wish I could do what he does" kinna way.

You love nature and would wander off in the grass / woods all by yourself with no regards for how long the grass is or how much underbrush there is. On one hand, its very interesting to observe this adventurous side of you (since your older brother was never one who liked getting himself stuck in the bushes), but on the other, you've given Mummy a couple of scares cos you would just disappear within seconds!

You simply adore the swing. The slide comes at a distant second. You would always head straight for the baby swing the second you spot one. That said, you're able to sit on the regular swing as well because you're very cautious and would hold on pretty tightly.

Oh and one last thing. You simply LOVE to sing. You'll sing everywhere we go such that people have often looked at us with curious and adoring smiles. I wish I could capture you singing on a video at some point in time!

We love you little one and pray that God will continue to mold you to be a strong man of GOD!

Lots of hugs and kisses
Mum and Dad