Cola is now 1 year 3 months old!

As evening falls, Cola loves to follow behind me when I suggest going out to water the potted plants.

"包包! (He could say his own nickname now.)" He throws up his hand for attention. "So you wanna come along too?"

He settles on a spot on the window ledge and watch me water the plants quietly from this vantage point.

Outside, the fresh air brings a relaxed mood. EggEgg helps with the weeding, loading them onto the bins while Cola busied himself with the toy lawnmower. Sometimes the brothers race to pick a dandelion as a gift for their beloved Mami. 花花!

Every now and then, Cola tweets in a bird-like tone. It's his form of asking a long question: "What is that, Mami?" My little birdie has a question for me.

Speaking of birds, for all winged, bipedal, endothermic, egg-laying, vertebrate animals, Cola refers to this species as 鴨 (duck). Minor technical differences does not seem to bother him. So in our garden, Cola is quick to point out a duck in every corner. 鴨! 鴨!

Even at the age of 18 months, Cola is still pleasantly at my heels wherever I go. He climbed onto a stool to watch me do the dishes, with his chin barely touching the sink. In the evening, he banged on the bathroom door demanding to be let in as I showered. And even at other times...

At the dining table, Cola asked for 汁汁 (juice), 子子 (grape), 包包 (bread)! He eats 3 slices of Weet-bix for breakfast, insisting on spooning up all by himself. Despite the healthy appetite, he is the size of a 12 month old only. Genetics, perhaps?

Cola is completely obsessed with Thomas the Tank Engines. On the picture books, he could correctly identify the different characters: Percy, Thomas, Toby, Duck. He could even say the names of the characters: 車車 (car), Dak (Duck) and Dee-so (Diesel). What a disappointment, his first 2-syllable word isn't Ma-mi or Dad-dy, but Dee-so?!

"濕晒 (All wet)!" I burst out laughing as we watch the video of how EggEgg did a face-plant into the water as he tripped over the sand at the beach yesterday. Cola repeated, "濕晒!" Unlike EggEgg at the same age, I'm relieved that Cola's well on his way in language development.