You turned 29 months old on National Day! I can’t believe that you’ll be 2½ in a month’s time. How time flies! It feels like we just celebrated your 2nd birthday yesterday and now you’re already halfway to your 3rd birthday.

It’s been another busy month for you. You went to the Disney Junior launch at Siloso Beach, checked out the Singapore HeritageFest opening at AMK and admired cars at the Motoring Heritage Day at the Old Ford Factory. You watched The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Rocky the Baby Panda and The Rainbow Fish. You took part in your very first NDP and enjoyed yourself so much that you haven’t stopped talking about it since! You also went to Amazonia to play with your friends and we had a Changi getaway over the National Day holiday.

An important thing that took place this month was your move to your own room and bed! So far, you seem to like hanging out in your room and nap quite well there. You love your books and I spend most of our car rides reading your favourite stories to you over and over. Your current favourites are Little Cloud, The Mixed-Up Chameleon, The Very Hungry Caterpillar and The Rainbow Fish and you know them so well that you can chime in with details from time to time while I am reading and talk about the stories even when we’re not reading. I’ve just gotten you a whole bunch of new books because I’m quite bored of the ones you have!

This month, you have demonstrated very clearly that you are well and truly in the Terrible Twos. You whine very easily and sometimes for no reason at all and usually we try to ignore you. You also have outbursts of rage where you shout, vibrate and turn red in the face for a few seconds. You insist on doing things a certain way and can get very impatient or upset if things don’t go the way you want. We know you are learning to assert yourself so we try to be patient with you and discipline you with love.

But the Terrible Twos are also terribly fun for us. You are so loving and cheeky and have such a wonderful sense of humour that you are such a joy to be with and we really love spending time with you. You talk so much and ask so many questions and constantly surprise us with how much you know and remember. Sometimes I wish I could slow things down a bit because you’re growing up so quickly.

Just know that you will always be my precious first-born and I love you for who you are.