baby talk (13-14 months)

she's now 10.5kg. gained weight in a matter of 5 days. it's amazing how much she has changed. i was expecting that most changes after her first birthday would be gradual. boy, I was wrong!

she talks even more now. i know, we never thought that was possible also. but her vocabulary is fast growing.

it's funny how she constantly immitates vocalizations and tries to repeat the words we say to her. she learned the "i" ("ee") sound on our way home from philippines. she kept saying "da-dee", with very strong emphasis on "dee". by emphasis i mean, with all her breath and strength :)) and after that she started to learn more words and uses "ee" a lot.

from her first words: "baba", "papa", "mama", and "dada"

expressions (some with hand/body gesture):

bye-bye (slovak, "papa") - waves bye-bye and say "papa" or "baba" or "paba" or "bapa"; or other combinations of "ba" and "pa" (as many times repeated as she pleases). she says this when saying bye-bye to someone, or when she wants to go.

light - her first official word. looks up, points to the light and says "lai", which evolved from "lah" in less than a week

give me/thank you - gives to or takes an object from someone and says "pa pi", which evolved from "pa bum" or "pa pum"

i don't want (filipino, "ayaw") - waves both hands frantically in criss-cross motion, and says "aya aya aya". it is often used when she doesn't want anymore during feeding.

no (slovak, "nie") - "nie nie nie" and sometimes waves her point finger from side to side

papapa (filipino, "to eat") - "papapa"

muah (kiss) - pouts lips or puts her lips closer to you and says "mmm ma"

words with more than one meaning:

daddy - "dada" has evolved to "da dee". but it could also mean mommy or other members of the family like grandma ("babka") or grandpa ("dedko"). or, when she wants to say something we haven't deciphered yet.

mommy - "mama" has evovled into "ma mee". but sometimes means "no more" when accompanied by two hands shaking. or, when she points to an object she threw down and wants it to be picked up.

"meeya meeya" - could mean "yummy", "my! my!" (slovak, "moja! moja!") and then strokes a person/object with her hand, or "meow! meow!" referring to a cat.

things (recognized objects; can point and identify the object):

flower - "wla wee"

dog (slovak, "havo") - "haw haw" or, more often "ha wee"

ball - "biy"

nose - "nou"

commands(phrases she understands):

no! - sometimes she obeys, but most often not :D

hug (object)! - hugs the object and swings her torso from side to side

come here!/let's go!

where is (your) head/ears/nose? - points or holds that part

throw the ball!/catch! - throws the ball/says something that sounds like "catch".

step! step! - used to encourage her to walk on her own.

whew! those are a lot of words for a 14 month old baby :) but that's not all. she can also repeat after us most of the time. except when we make fun and try to make her say "mee ma" or "dee da". it's funny that this really puzzles her. although lately she babbles "ee ai" repeatedly on her own. amazing isn't it?! :)

last, but definitely not the least, the talk of the town -- alex is walking. although she still gets a little scared sometimes, or walks too fast and loses balance. alex can also climb up and down the sofa or bed. she has really become more dangerously cute these last two weeks :)

a.k.a (at 12 months)

12 months
10 kilograms
78 centimeters

wow! it doesn't seem that long ago, but here we are, on the first year mark. alex is so special that she celebrated her birthday 3 times. twice in slovakia and a swimming party in philippines. it's mostthe fact that mommy and daddy has so many friends and relatives, hihihi! but also, it's just proof that she's so much loved by everyone. (^.^)

i could still remember long before she was even conceived. there was only name for her -- ALEX. now, she could give the FBI's most wanted a run for their money for acquiring so many aliases in such a short time.

"alex"
yes, that's her nick name. ALEX is a nick name mommy has always wanted and so she was named ALEXANDRA.

"neri" (var. "nerinka")"
she was born on the feast day of St. Philip Neri. Philip doesn't really seem fit for such a pretty baby, so we adapted the surname instead. "nerinka" on the other hand, was coined by the nurse of alex's pediatrician. it's a slovak way of changing names for calling small children or as term of endearment (e.g., minela = "minelka", matej = "matko")

"uu maker"
it's a mystery to us how a baby who only takes milk can make such fowl smelling poopoo! we really didn't have problem knowing when to change her diaper. well one could smell it from a mile away :)) now, just imagine what happened when she started having solids... well it's not so bad, or maybe we just got used to it. 3 times a day is no joke.

"the thing" (var. "it")
so far, this is the most used nick for her between mommy and daddy, that is, aside from "alex". for example:
* "the thing" is already asleep.
* "it" is looking at us.
* look at "the thing".

"tiger"
we're not sure now where exactly this nick came from. but it's most probably from the one of the funny sounds she creates which probably mimics that of a tiger. :)

"koala bird"
this was adapted from when she was much younger but is not so much used now. "koala" refers to the way she holds on to the person carrying her, which very much looks like a koala bear hug. "bird" comes from the high pitched screeching sound she makes.

"lazy piglet" (var. "piglet")
as you may have observed in her pix (specially earlier ones), she really is on the chubby side. "lazy" is self-explanatory :) well, she didn't want to hold her own bottle for long time even when she already could. sometimes, she also didn't want to walk. she crawls instead because of the fact that it's easier for her.

"marshmallow bear"
alex has a cousin, ayie, who's only one week older than her. we used to joke how alex would bully ayie when they grow older. it's the fact that alex is bigger and taller than most babies her age. but the irony of ironies, alex turned out to have a softer physical nature. so even if she's a big girl, she's as soft as a marshmallow and as cuddly as a bear.

there's so much more that i couldn't remember them all. we come up with different nicknames for her whenever she does something so special (which is every minute of her waking hour, but sometimes even in her sleep :)

at one year:
* we think she's more talkative than most babies her age. she can say "mama", "dada", "papa" (usually, when she waves bye-bye). she also makes gibberish sounds as if she's really talking.

* her first word is "light". although she could only say "lah" in the beginning, she really knows what it means. everytime we enter some room, she would look up, point and say "lah".

* she can stand alone pretty well for more than two (2) seconds

* she walks with two hands held. then confidently with just one hand held. surprisingly, she was also able to make her first two (2) steps.

* all her eight teeth are out.