Brief updates on our two little girls

We're leaving Pepe's hair long so we can braid it. Saves us the trouble and trauma of going to the hairdresser's every so often as well. Mei's lack of substantial hair growth continues to make people who do not know her call her "boy"--not so often "baby" anymore, at least, as Polly grows up each day to be more and more properly a toddler. We're so proud of her! The other day she successfully put on her shorts all by herself.

Tot talk update (Polly's now): her favourite words seem to be the very well enunciated "more" and "no", accompanied by the gestures of pointing (and sometimes also nodding meaningfully) and waving her right hand respectively; and also "bye", "take", and "there". Her vocabulary is rapidly expanding, and I was quite impressed by her being able to say the first syllable of many animals and objects represented on stickers she was playing with. Her best yet so far would be... (what I can remember right now) what sounds like "hereyougo", "Ma bao (carry)", "Ma's joo (juice)" and "Bunny" the name of her attachment bear she sleeps with each night.

Polly's favourite author now seems to be Lois Lenski. Our first two were "On a Summer Day", "Spring Is Here" and "Papa Small" given by Aunty Michael Nylan on Polly's birth, and added to our collection every kids' Lenski we've found in bookshops (except for "Mr and Mrs Noah" which we didn't think so special)--"Policeman Small" (Moe's, Telegraph) and "The Little Family" (Times, Singapore). These are so kids' handy-sized Polly loves carrying them along, and the pictures are simply charming, full of life and everyday detail. The other day when I surprised her with "The Little Family", she stopped nursing right after I finished reading the book and went straight to thumb through the pictures again.

As for Pepe, she continues to be the ever-chatty big sister, periodically impressing strangers and acquaintances enough to evoke praises of how articulate she is. She does seem to have matured quite a bit recently too, with certain events acting as catalyst. I'm occasionally surprised and heartened by the (at least) seeming maturity of the answers she gives. One most recent one is memorable: when we asked her why she would like to be an adult, she answered, "So that I can read your adult's books." Another time I was bathing her and she was speaking sternly to Crocky (mini anti-slip adhesive shaped like a crocodile) who was biting children's fingers again, and explaining to him, "Sometimes I must speak sternly so that you will know that I am serious about you learning to obey." :) The one I like best would be how she commented on how I was a "good prayer leader; you be the prayer leader, and I will repeat after you." That's what we've been doing each night right before going to bed. I think it's progress of a sort from her interrupting me while I'm praying, and insisting on not having me pray and to listen only to her "children's prayer" (mainly thanking Jesus for giving us flowers to smell :)

In the memorable words of Lenski, "That's all about the Little Loys!"--for now. Mama's got to go back to marking her students' scripts. Being a stay-home mom remains a bit of a dream, for now.