Make Way for Toddler Mikhail!

As much as I’d like to live in denial, I can’t.
Our son is no longer a baby.

Babies are swaddled.
There’s no way we can swaddle Mikhail, with his long limbs and superhuman strength.

Babies can be cradled in our arms.
Mikhail will humor his parents and let us do that for 3.5 seconds before he wriggles free.

Babies nurse and eat mush.
Mikhail stopped nursing at 1 year of age and stopped eating mush at around the same time.
With his ten teeth, the boy is eating everything WE eat, and sometimes, things that we don’t. The only mushy food he’ll tolerate is ice-cream and mashed potatoes. And occasionally, porridge.


Yummy bubur... with ginger and ikan masin...

Babies are easy to control.
(Well, they just lie there, what…)
Mikhail is a boisterous, curious, cheeky little monkey.
He loves to walk ahead of us in public places, without even checking to see whether we’re following him!
The only time he’d turn around is if a stranger accosts him. Then he’ll immediately whirl around and point to us, keeping his eyes on the stranger all the time.

Babies cry.
Mikhail hardly ever does. Actually, he wasn't much of a crying baby...
He cries OUT in frustration sometimes, like when we are too dense to understand that he needs food and needs it NOW.
But he doesn’t cry. No whining either (alhamdulillah… hope this lasts!).
He talks a lot more now though.
A few understandable words like ‘Daddy’ and ‘Shoe’ and ‘Car’ etc.
But mostly he speaks in Mikhail Language that sounds a lot like Gordoth from Planet Zargon…


Chomping on pizza in tears

So yeah… Mikhail is growing up.
He’s a bona fide toddler now.


He's discovered the taboo of nose-picking

He runs.
Oh my goodness, I still remember the days when we were eager to see him take his first step… and now he’s RUNNING??

He climbs.
The billiard table he got for his birthday?
Is now Mikhail’s own personal stage.


Messing up the shoes to climb on the shoe rack... which then collapsed

He reads.
I’m SO delighted that he takes after his Mommy!
First thing in the morning, after milk, he will sprawl on the bed (or floor) and read his book, muttering Mikhail Language and pointing at the pictures


I used to read like this when I was a little girl... and my room was just as messy

He’s obsessed over cars.
His first word was ‘car’. He has wayyyyy too many toy cars.
On the road, he points out cars that are similar to Mommy and Daddy’s car and bellows ‘CAR!!! CAR!!!’ (Both of us driving Malaysian-made cars make this a frequent occurrence).


Car car car!

He loves dining.
Gerai ker, fast food chain ker, restaurant ker, hotel banquet ker…
Mikhail loves his food and everything else that comes with it.
He even knows how to summon a waiter (stares at them and raises his hand with a slight wave...)
He insist on paying the bill too...
(Daddy hands him the money and he passes it to the cashier... and waits for change)

*sigh*
This may not make sense but…
I miss my baby.
I miss cradling that warm little bundle of sweet smells.
I miss watching him lying on the bed, kicking his fat feet and waving his chubby hands around to touch my face.
I miss nursing him and feeding him mush.

But I LOVE my little toddler Mikhail.
I love seeing him grow into his own person.
I love watching his independence and his confidence grow each day.
I love doing ‘big boy’ things with him like reading together, playing in the playground, sharing a slice of chicken chop and a tub of ice-cream.
I love seeing him having a ‘conversation’ with his Daddy.
I love it all.

Takperlah Mikhail.
I hope you realize that even though you’ve grown, and even though you will be a strapping young man with a family of your own and a high-flying career…

In my eyes, you’ll always be my baby.

Be forewarned.



In his sleep, we can cradle him to our hearts content