Professor Isaac Tan

This is Prof Tan - pictured here at 14 and a half months.
However, now at 18 months, Prof Tan can do quite a lot of things.

pix taken on 26th October 2008
Isaac @ 14 and a half months

For this post, let's document what our dear Professor Isaac Tan can do as of 18 months of age.

PHYSICALLY

1. Isaac can RUN!!! - really! or it's super fast walking - I literally have to speed walk or jog - to keep up with him.
2. Isaac can go up and down stairs on his own - supporting himself by holding the railings/wall. When at Stanford, with carpeted stairs - he literally slides down the steps! Learning that trick from Natalie who's got it down pat!
3. He climbs every low table, sofa, chair, stool - with ease. In fact, he's been doing this for quite some time already. A few months ago, he gave us all a scare, when we found him sitting atop a stool - ya know the $4.90 ikea kind - he actually climbed that and sat on it upright! What a feat!
4. Climb Every Human... (to hum that to the tune of "Climb Every Mountain" hahaha) One of Isaac's favourite activity is to have his Papa hold his hands to steady him while Isaac WALKS up hubbs' thigh... have a vid of that taken recently... you'd see it... eventually :p
5. Cross over obstacles and cross small drains - obtacles were never an issue, I guess. But one thing I got him to learn, was for him to stretch his stride to cross over small drains. So, I'd hold both his hands and tell him to position one foot near the edge, and to stretch the other foot across the drain. He learnt pretty fast more than a month ago.

SPEECH

1. Isaac can 'call' everyone of his immediate family in Teochew/Chinese: Papa & Mama, Ye Ye & Nai Nai (paternal grandpa & grandma), Gong Gong & Po Po (maternal grandpa & grandma), Gu Gu (hubbs' sis), Ee Ee & Tio Tio (my sis & bro-in-law), Cheh Cheh (for both Rebecca & Isabelle), Mei Mei (for Natalie), and Kor Kor - for himself! When I ask Isaac who's in the picture (of himself), he would reply "Kor Kor". Which means "older brother" which everyone says is a good omen since we wanna have more kids! :)
2. Isaac can even call Nek Nek (Malay for 'grandmother') and Kak Kak (Malay for 'sister'), which made our malay neighbours very very pleased! :)
3. Isaac is trilingual - he understands English, Chinese and Teochew. We know he understands coz he can take instruction in all three languages.
4. English words he can speak in full include: car, train, cat, eat, bye bye, away, milk, moon, ball, sit, bag, cup, see, hug, this side, car seat, you (thank you), wait, throw, tree, red, blue, green, purple...
5. Chinese words he can speak in full include: che1 (car), he1 shui3 (drink water), hua1 (flower), mao1 (cat), zai4 jian4 (bye, see you again), xie4 xie4 (thank you)...
6. Teochew words he can speak in full include: MAI!!! ("don't want" or "NO!")
7. Isaac's speech is developing very fast. Every other day we find that he can speak some new word. He now imitates every last syllable of every word we try to teach him to say. Like "cle" in uncle, "ter" in monster and water.
8. He is also able to complete the last word/syllable of songs familiar to him. Like when hubbs sings to him chinese children songs like Little White Boat.
9. actually there are many words he knows... just that I can't recall them all at the moment...

SIGNING - Did I tell you guys that we started Isaac on learning sign language when he was about 12 months old? Watched the Baby Signing Time dvds, and he picked up signs very quickly. Even now, he still enjoys watching the dvds, and he can sign the following words

1. Milk - this was the first sign I wanted him to learn as, at that time, he would always pat and stroke my breast if he wanted to drink milk. Which is well and fine in the privacy of our own homes, but very embarrassing outside. So I really wanted him to learn how to sign 'milk'. And this was the first sign he picked up!
2. Other words include: water, shoes, hat, sleep, eat...

OTHERS

1. Isaac can hug well. But he doesn't 'kiss'. He'd give you his cheek - that's the best we could get outta him for a 'kiss'.
2. He's now very good at holding you by the finger, and pulling you to where he wants you to be - to either, keep him company, or to help him get something, or switch on something - the tv or projector etc.
3. Oh and he's very goooood at shaking his head, and saying "mai!!!" (Teochew for NO!!!) at the same time.
4. Isaac can now sit and watch a tv programme - he only started watching tv when he was about 12 months old. Now, at 18 months, he can sit and concentrate quite long, for programmes he likes.
5. On weekday mornings, when I drop him off at my in laws' place before I go to work, Isaac still clings on to me, and I would have to sneak away, so that he wouldn't cry. My heart still breaks when I hear his panicky "Mama? Mama? Mama!!! Mama!!!" as I walk down the corridor to the lift.
6. Isaac can sit down and play boardgames. He started at about 16 months, when we were in Stanford in Dec 2008. His first game was Go Away, Monster! which he still plays :) More on games in later posts!
7. Isaac can hold his own cup and drink without spilling a single drop - unless he's walking and drinking at the same time, or if he did it on purpose.
8. He can also drink up a straw now!

Okay, that's all for the moment, will update if I think of anything else that he can do at this point in time...

UPDATE: Okay the reason why this is like the only post all week's coz I've been spending all week updating it with words and stuff he can do! hahhaaha... he can do so much now, that I just can't remember them all at one go!