Potentially embarrassing moments

I may be wrong but I think it may be a rite of passage for every parent to be embarrassed by her toddler. Since we had been eating a fair bit of pomelo, mini-b often gestures that he wants his share with, "anna (Finnish: give) porno".

And because it is tricky for a 2 year-old tongue to wrap around the 'tr-' sound, it often sounds like he's saying, "f**k, f**k, f**k" when he was simply pointing to his 3 trucks. We have some explaining to do in front of friends.


microbeanie is 3 months, 1 week & 2 days old
minibeanie is a 2 year & 4 months old toddler

Linguistic sponge

For a few months, mini-b has referred to himself as "boy". It always brings a smile to our faces when he says, "mama, dada, baby, boy", "boy cwwhy" (cry) or "BOY!" when he wants to express that something belongs to him. On this trip to Finland though, he has finally learnt how to say his own name. Quite a feat considering how long his name is...we could have been nice and chosen a 1 or 2 syllabi name like John or Tomi. mini-b introduces himself as "Hasasan" or sometimes "Hassan" :D

It also amazes me how fast he's picking up language now. Before we came 2 weeks ago, he said, "hands pois (Finnish: away) please" and from his playschool teacher, he apparently said, "Everybody 洗手 (Chinese: wash hands)". I suppose it's inevitable that he mixes the languages he's learning everyday.

Thanks to his fav Ten Little Ladybugs book, mini-b can now count to 10 in English & Chinese. We also talked a lot about colours. M&Ms are great teaching tools ;)


microbeanie is 2 months, 1 week & 5 days old
minibeanie is a 2 year 3 month old toddler

Speaking up

All of a sudden, mb was able to vocalize a couple more words. It was on the first day of our arrival in Helsinki, when he first shouted, "Go go go!", ran to the door and pointed excitedly at it :D It was obvious what he wanted.

"Moooore" was another. Rounded lips and all. Also blatantly clear what he wanted especially when added after a treat of strawberries/blueberries/chocolates/cake.

"NOOooo" finally, a typical toddler word. We were wondering when it would come. And now it has. And when the mood strikes, everything is in the negative.

And his first Chinese word, "谢谢 / "shie shie"!" :D He must have picked it up during our short trip to Beijing.

It is apparent he wants to form words with his tongue but lacks the ability to do so yet. We 'sing' to the ABC song and he looks at my mouth so intently but could only say repeat a few letters and when he does, he breaks out in applause :D


minibeanie is 1 year, 10 months, 4 weeks & 1 day old
microbeanie is 28weeks in utero