14 months milestones

time to record a few milestones of baby alan:

able to walk by himself by a bit over 14 months (and that's bryan in the background video taping him walking for the first time on the night of 28th of april)

added a few more words to his vocabulary

"ya" (which is "duck" in mandarin), and 

"wolf", which he can pronounce very well and enjoys saying very much.  he also learnt to say "lion", although pronunciation is still baby-like and he only says this word occasionally.  did i mention that he could say "tiger" as well in earlier posts?

blowing and climbing

this picture was taken on 28th march, showing alan blowing a whistle and successfully.  i really should have posted this picture earlier.

he's become a lot more agile since turning one year of age.

he climbed into this plastic washbowl and sat there to play.

and into this cardboard bucket.  tricky.

pasta with bolognese sauce

alan loves meat!  the small pasta helps babies use their jaw muscles to chew.  these are the same muscles that help them speak.  pasta is an ideal food for teething babies.

what you need:
1 tsp olive oil; 1/2 small onion; 1/2 carrot; a small pinch of ground parsley; 1 bay leaf; 125g minced beaf; 1 tomato; 1/2 celery stick; water; 1 tbsp pasta

let's cook:
1.  finely chop the onion, carrot and celery stick.  skin and finely chop the tomato;
2.  heat the oil in a small pan over medium heat.  fry the onion, carrot and celery for about 2 minutes, then add the minced beef and fry until brown;
3.  add the tomato, water, bay leaf and parsley.  cover and cook for 15 to 20 minutes over low heat.  stir occasionally.
4.  puree and mash the sauce.  
5.  cook the pasta according to package instruction.
6.  mix the past and the sauce and enjoy.

building a few blocks

we bought alan a bucket containing100 pieces of building blocks.  i had difficulty building anything at the beginning, a matter of lacking imagination i guess. 

but after a while, i managed to build this little thing above.  it's my first building block in over twenty years, or if my memory didn't fail me (as i can't recall the last time i ever played with building blocks), it could very well be the first building block i ever built in my life!  wow.

as alan knocked down my first building, i quickly built a second smaller one.  this looked like a robot though.  :)

with some encouragement, alan started to stack up some blocks, too.  here he had three, and i remembered that he made it to five or six.  could this be considered his first built block?

go for a walk

we went for a walk this morning, with alan's new baby-walking-assistant.

one year old, and alan still need to hold on to something to walk or stand - his legs are not yet strong enough.

the other boy in the far background is 6 months older than us, but alan is bigger and taller than him.  :)  i know i shouldn't compare and every child is beautiful, but i can't help being a little proud.

we picked up some pink flowers,

and immediately became a big hit with the ladies!

apple

we were reading last night, and i as i pointed to an apple in the book and said the word, alan copied me and said "apple"!

a few milestones

by 11 months, alan can say "mama";

by 12 months, he can say "mama", "baba" (dad in madarin), "nai nai" (which meant both grandma and breast, and when alan says it, he means the later), "mao" (cat in madarin) and "bird".

sometimes alan speaks in his sleep - he says "ma ma" in such a sweet and soft voice!  i love it.