Transitioning into Toddlerhood

My little sweetheart has officially transitioned into toddlerhood.  Bursting with tons of energy and curiosity, she now skips her afternoon naps and even protests when we put her to bed at night.  With food, she's a little pickier than she used to-- now she voices out her preferred brand of fresh milk and yoghurt (she knows her letters and colors) and prefers sugar-free peanut butter over other spreads.  

We noticed that when she doesn't get her fair share of physical activities during daytime, she finds it harder to sleep continuously at night.  Thus, I take in as much food and vitamins as I can to stay alert and keep up with her activeness. For a non-athletic 7-month pregnant mom, it's quite challenging not to panic whenever she shows interest in tumbling and climbing.  The absence of a playpen highly encouraged her exploration capabilities early on; she started climbing boxes on our headboard to to reach for the airconditioner overhead at 8months :/ 

Here are the top 5 activities we enjoy at home apart from eating & sleeping :p:

1.  Karaoke

I was quite aware of my daughter's musicality even while she was still in my womb. Her taste is quite expansive; she enjoyed Jed Madela, Mozart, Autotelic and even the Game of Thrones soundtrack. She rhythmically kicked me inside like an experienced gymnast while I covered events for CNN Philippines. The cool part? She now hums in tune most of the stuff she got exposed to before she was born!  She even shrieks "Madmen!" when she hears the series' intro on Netflix and knows most of the intro of the Disney Junior shows and Bada Namu songs.

2. Baby Ballet

My mom enrolled me in ballet when I was 5 because I wanted to be like Ms. Piggy from Muppet Babies.  But early on I discovered I was no Lisa Macuja; I couldn't even do a proper plie or a simple split!  Blame it on genetics but it did help improve my walking and posture.

It seems my little one has a better chance in being a dancer as she adores Beyonce and Nutcracker Barbie.  It may be too early for me to enrol her in a formal class so for now we just copy steps from YouTube!

3.  Cookie making

Leji loves cookies.  We occasionally bake choco-chip or peanut butter oatmeal cookies but most of the time, we just mold colored clay and pretend they're cookies!

4. Book reading

We only get to finish half of the story each sitting though :/ Leji gets too restless in between even if we try it with songs and actions. 

5. Counting

We try to count everything (in English and even in Chinese hehe). Our favorite? The steps on the stairs! :)