Snapshot of a 3.5 year-old

Mei at 3.5 years…

… loves to sing and dance. She spies a step, and ledge, a platform, and the next minute, she’ll be on it, singing and dancing, with actions to boot. Only for an imaginary audience though, for when she sees you watching, she stops. Sometimes she would continue, albeit more self consciously. She also usually refuses when you ask her to perform. But if you catch her in those moments when it when she’s totally caught up in her own performance, you’re in for a treat of made-up songs and made-up Chinese. Mei can’t string a sentence together in Chinese at all (my fault), but it doesn’t stop her from trying and making up her own Chinese-sounding words. It always makes me laugh to watch her at it!

… is really Miss Bossypants. She’s always trying to dictate the action and tell everyone what to do! She’s mostly ignored by her brother when she tries to do this but some of her classmates seem to listen to her. I followed her on a field trip and was rolling my eyes in amusement as she kept calling to her friends to come join her at a different activity, then took over the job while her friend watched.

… is in her Princess phase. This is exemplified by wearing long skirts which she loves to hold out and swish around. And twirl, of course. This dress and 2 others from Fox Kids are among her absolute favourites for this purpose. Her “princess dresses”, she calls them.

… has been resisting her nap, but I think it’d be quite some time before she’s really able to drop it. She’s caught on to the fact that I sometimes head out or do other things while she’s asleep and she doesn’t want to miss out! So I’m being met with lots of cries of “I’m not tired!” in the afternoon, only to have her inopportunely falling asleep later.

… LOVES fries. They are probably her favourite food, since, you know, sweets are NOT a food group. Yes, she’s my second child and gets to enjoy more relaxed food privileges.

… is starting to show an interest in reading. She now points out words on posters and asks me what they say, and I recently came upon her pointing to letters in words and trying to sound them out phonetically. I must admit I haven’t done a lot to teach her though we have always had regular reading sessions. She’s not the bookworm her brother was so I’m letting her take her time about it. I recently went to attend a phonics course and reading readiness is one thing that was stressed, so I know we are on the right track, letting her set her own pace.

… is extremely independent. She’s always been really, but now she is actually able to do a lot on her own. She’s always had a strong opinion about her clothes and now I can’t stop her because she can take off and put on all her clothes by herself. Buttons, t-shirts, underwear, socks, shoes, she can manage them all on her own, which I think is pretty amazing. That does mean that she would randomly go into the room to change her clothes when she feels like it though and there’s not much I can do about it!

… makes the most outrageous requests. Where her brother would never dare to ask for treats (cos he knows I’ll say no), she tries her luck for sweets and gummies on a regular basis. At the supermarket, she’ll make a bid for treats and winsomely try with her brightest smile and most convincing manner to persuade me that she and Gorgor really need those snacks. Sometimes it’s hard to say no to that cute face.

Which brings me to the fact that she…

… is the cutest thing ever. Charming and cheeky, that’s our Naomi!