The Day Before Tomorrow

The day before tomorrow would be today. Just in case you didn't quite get it. What's tomorrow you ask? I'm glad you did. It's a very good question. Tomorrow is Blake's second birthday.

My birthdays don't count anymore. I used to have little parties where some friends would gather to eat, drink and play videogames, but now I'd rather focus the attention on Blake's birthday which is less than a month later.

We already ordered a birthday cake for tomorrow and today we went shopping for food and drinks and picked up the balloons we ordered a few days before. Blake tagged along and squeezed in a nap while we were out and about. We also had lunch at Burger King and Blake got his very own kids meal there for the first time rather than just steal a few bites from what we were eating. Exciting!

Most of the evening was spent crafting my own gift for Blake: a scrapbook with big photos of things he likes. 

Last time I reviewed Blake's development was six months ago when he was a year and a half. So here are the new things learnt to do over the last few months:

I guess the most impressive thing was mastering his iPod Touch. He only got one so I could reclaim back my iPhone. He enjoyed playing with my iPhone once in a while, but then he demanded it every time I took it out to answer the phone or check my e-mail and later when realizing that it was usually in my pockets, he'd go through my pockets and will be very annoyed if it wasn't there. So he got his own. At first he'd bring his iPod Touch to me to change applications or videos for him until he was happy. Since he still doesn't quite talk, it'll be trial and error until I picked something he did like. He'd just keep handing me back the iPod until that happened. And then suddenly he figured it all out. Press the big round button to quit a program and to unlock the iPod you need to rub the slider sideways. Seemingly out of nowhere he could navigate his applications perfectly, all from watching me do it a few times. For me that's quite amazing that he grasps the concept of a touch screen so intuitively. In fact, he'd often try to touch regular screens like a TV or a PSP and be very disappointed by the primitive display that doesn't respond to his finger.

Blake is really into his toy cars. We got him a couple of boxes full of small cars and they are now all over the house. He enjoys "driving" them on any surface he can find, including the shelves of the fridge. He likes putting them in the few kitchen drawers that can't be child-proofed, but he's not tall enough to look into the drawer so he has a much more difficult time taking the cars out. He also likes real cars and can stand for hours at the side of the road and watch vehicles drive by. The busier the road, the better. Sometimes he would wave his hands and shout in excitement as if cheering a car race only he is aware of.

He has completely mastered going up and down the stairs so we removed the gate at the top which was just a useless nuisance at that point. Blake climbs the stairs up and slides backwards on his belly on the way down.

As I mentioned recently, he gave up the bottle almost two months ago. We skipped the sippy cups and he moved straight to regular glasses (we have plastic ones that look like glass, but practically unbreakable). He can pick up the glass and drink carefully, but I'd usually put a hand under his chin or hold his glass for him as there's a good chance he will spill it on himself, resulting in unsolicited entry into a wet t-shirt contest. Blake has also finally figured out the concept of straws which is surprisingly convenient.

Blake still isn't talking, which is apparently isn't too uncommon in bilingual homes, especially since we both speak to him mostly English which isn't a mother tongue for either of us. We spoke to his paediatrician while visiting Toronto (Blake is covered until 2) and he said it was way too early to worry about it. Regardless, Blake knows how to communicate to us what he wants very well. He might put something in my hand or grab me and lead me somewhere while making various noises. It's all very creative and I'm sure he'll soon figure out that just saying it in two or three words will be much simpler.

There are probably million of other things I forgot and I might add them later, but it's getting late and I gotta go to bed because tomorrow is going to be a very busy and very fun day. I can't wait. 

As Blake keeps growing up and keep leaving behind old versions of him that I'll never get to see again (outside of photos and videos), I find myself both missing his many different past versions while at the same time can't wait to meet all the new Blakes that are going to pop out of nowhere over the next few years.

By the time I got to this part it's now after midnight, so happy birthday son!

--Mickey