In the past month, Zoey has started showing more and more independence. I was told that the toddler phase goes past really fast and I'm beginning to feel it.
So we took the plane for the first time after she turned 2 and it was the first time we paid for her own seat. She was a champ on the trip there and managed to entertain herself by flipping through all the in-flight magazines and attempting to stuff them all into 1 seat pocket. When she got bored, we pulled out her mickey mouse colouring book and crayons so she could occupy herself with that. On the flight back, we planned it such that she fell asleep for her nap before the flight even took off. Granted it was only 1.5 hours but still awesome win!
She has recently started to shop and make decisions on what she wants to use. We walked into a shop one day and she saw a Elmo trolley bag. I had been contemplating buying a trolley bag for her and while I was evaluating it, she pretty much picked it up and rolled it out of the shop. I ended up buying it to replace her current school bag which she had been struggling with because it was too big and often too heavy.
Last Sunday, we went to Skyhigh trampoline park ( http://www.skyhigh.com.sg/ ) in Serangoon and Zoey had a blast, jumping all around by herself for almost an hour. She was so confident even though she was the youngest jumper they had ever had and she confidently jumped around, even ordering her mommy to jump in a certain square. Warning - 1 minute video of toddler jumping below. Don't watch if you'll get bored of watching her just jumping.
She pretty much did this for close to 60 minutes. Just watching her makes me tired!
Other than being physically active, Zoey has also started using chopsticks. She sees me eating with chopsticks a lot and one day just insisted on using chopsticks. So now she has her own pair of training chopsticks and has started using them to eat noodles. She has tried to eat rice with it, but I told her I think that's too advanced for now. But some day I'm sure she'll be able to do it.
2 nights ago, she decided she didn't want to sleep on the bed anymore. She pulled my blanket off the bed, spread it on her alphabet mats like a mattress and promptly fell asleep on that. It was a welcome change from having her occupy half the bed. Now I just need to move her from the floor back into her own toddler bed.
I think the biggest sign of growth now is her speech. She sings and talks a lot now. I feel her vocabulary expands every day and I'm often surprised by how many new words she knows. She can express herself really well and will let us know when she wants something or when she needs help or even just giving us her observations about the moon in the sky or the cats sleeping on the cars.
I know these moments are so precious and I'm so glad that I can watch her grow. So fortunate, so blessed, so loved.