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December & 14 Months

Mark, November 2013, Ottawa
Mark, November 2013, Ottawa

This December 12, Mark is celebrating his 14-month-old birthday.

When I look at last year’s pictures at the same date, I can’t believe it’s the same kid. But it really is—Mark has never been away from me long enough to be switched with another baby.

Mark is walking everywhere now, preferably toward:

1) My laptop (“non, Mark, non!”)

2) Anything colourful in stores (too bad it’s Christmas decorations time… it makes our shopping trips very inefficient!)

3) Shelves and cupboards (and everything ends up on the floor).

We had a busy month:

And of course, Mark discovered snow.

I told him about Santa Claus (and his French brother, le Père noël). The first time we went to the mall after that, we bumped into Santa Claus, and he froze. For a second, I thought, “wow, that kid is bright, he understood everything I told him!” And then Mark moved toward the metal poles around Santa Claus and proceeded to hug them for a good ten minutes. That’s right, ladies and gentlemen: I have the only kid fascinated by metal poles!

Mark is very assertive these days and complains a lot if he doesn’t get what he wants. Dragging him away from those metal poles or whatever he fancies leads to mini-tantrums. For a while, I put him in shopping carts but he no longer likes it—he’d rather walk. And grabs anything within reach.

He eats a bit of everything (and throws some to the floor). He loves cereal bars (some crumble easily, I keep those for when we go out, I ain’t cleaning the kitchen floor again!), carrots and potatoes, rice and noodles and those pureed fruit pouches.

He discovered “talking toys” and likes them. Me, not so much. These “Peekaboo friends! We are going to see the beach and the deep blue sea…” and “Elmo’s got five crayons!” are invading my sleep. But hey, whatever keeps him busy…

Generally speaking, Mark likes anything new. The portable heater we put in his room is his new best friend, and so is anything we forget is within his reach (he’s got long arms!)—keys, remote controls, etc.

His new trick is pointing to the sky (or the ceiling) and going “oooh…” as if he spotted something unique and mysterious—most of the time, it’s just the light, really. Or maybe he sees God when I don’t. I hope not. Poor kid, wouldn’t want him to turn mystic.

He still screams (very annoying) and doesn’t speak much yet (not our language, anyway). I’ve heard it was common for kids exposed to several languages to start talking a bit later. We mostly speak English at home, but I talk to him in French and his in-laws speak Chinese. He understands the three languages but he may be a bit lost in translation!

Overall, he is growing up fine. I think. Not that I know what I’m doing…

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Zhu

French woman in English Canada.

Exploring the world with my camera since 1999, translating sentences for a living, writing stories that may or may not get attention.

Firm believer that nobody is normal... and it’s better this way.

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