24 months old

Dear Elle,

Mama had been procrastinating on clearing the clutter inside the head and among piles of pictures, gathering bits and pieces to put together your great adventure back to our home country into a keepsake that can be savored for years to come. It was a great bless of being surrounded with loves and pampering from the beloved families. We miss everyone back home terribly.

Mama was so proud of you doing so well on your first flight in your life. Seeing you walking up and down the aisle like a social butterfly, checking out each passenger row by row with your head poking into their seats as you walked by, had mama sweat a tad, worrying people would get annoyed by your nosiness. Luckily, everyone on the plane loved you. You're so popular and even became sort of a mini celebrity after you're awarded with a UA airline badge from a flight attendant who praised about your helpfulness. You're so proud of wearing the badge that you kept showing it off around, pointing your finger at it and saying out loud: "I'm captain. This's MY airplane. Baby's airplane. Mine!". Everyone was so amused by your silliness, nevertheless, your incredible cuteness as well.

Our first leg of 13 hours flight flied by in a wink. When mama pulled you out from your dreamland telling you we're ready to debark the plane, with your sleepy eyelids half opened you bid farewell to everyone on the flight, waving your hands and saying goodbye all the way out. It's so heartwarming to see a bond formed between you and all these wonderful people on the flight. As we're walking towards transit, the moment you saw the airplanes through the big windows, your excitement level was simply off the chart, jumping up and down screaming "plane! plane!". In a minute you looked down to the badge on your shirt and said to mama: "It's baby's airplane. Baby's airplane!". Silly you.


It's amazing how fast you picked up Mandarin in just a few days back home. Your Ah Yee found mama over-reacted when mama screamed in disbelief the first time you spoke Mandarin in a complete sentence. You moaned "蚊子咬! 蚊子咬!" everyday because of you were attacked by swarms of mosquitoes unmercifully. It's pitiful to see the love bites they left all over your body and legs. You said "闪电","打雷" on rainy days where the lightning and thunder struck every few minutes apart. You told us you want to eat "豆腐花" out of the blue. You ran to your grandma grabbing her broom saying "baby 扫地". Oh! The helpless look of grandpa when you stuck the broom in his hand commanding him to sweep the floor was priceless, making us laugh so hard till our bellies hurt. Mama enjoyed watching while you and your grandma (外婆) sang along your favorite songs: "大象" and "坐火车". Three of us would hold our hands together, swaying them up and down as we sang along and walked rounds and rounds inside the house. Your favorite phrases were: "要这个", "還要", "還有", "听歌", and "吓到我". The funniest by far was you loved to ask "什么?".

You were so much spoiled by everyone back home. Your grandma (婆婆) sewed so many pretty dresses for you with much love while your grandpa (公公) horsey back riding you around and gave in to you for everything you asked for. 叔叔 (which you pronounce as "soup soup") was your ice/candy guy. You adored 姑姑 so much that you'd burst into tears every time she left the room before your bedtime. You were having a hell of a good time together with your lil' cousins you met for the very first time. While the six of you were under one roof, the extreme level of noise y'all made from the laughter, yelling and fighting was a heart attack. The day we celebrated your birthday in advance, mama saw the lil' face of yours was so clueless, wondering what's going on, as we all sang happy birthday to you as loud as the people singing in a choir. Since the next day on, you hum and sing happy birthday to you all day long and every time you see a cake, you'd say "happy birthday to you". All these was great memories, memories we carried 95900 miles over and live inside our hearts forever.

This year, we had unexpectedly wonderful visitors, you lil' cousin Summer and her family, dropped by joining us to celebrate your birthday together. It's a fun reunion. We visited big fishes at the aquarium, ran around the playground at the park, ate cake, picked dandelion, and walked through the fields of tulips. Mama picked out a Hello Kitty cake for you. It's pink, the color you specifically requested on your cake. Love the lil' face of you, so concentrating on picking out the icing from the cake and putting it into you mouth. It's all about the icings that brighten your day.


Happy 2 years old, our darling. No matter of it's the terrible 2's or terrific 2's, we're ready for it. Isn't ironic that on your birthday, you began nearly every sentence with "I want..."?

Love you,
Mama