Our over-aged kid wannabe

It was a sunny day today, but a pity Wayne had to do OT in the office (the poor nanny again could not get a day off), so I decided to bring Rosabelle out to the mall (Shin Kong Place) with the nanny in tow.

Rosabelle had a fun time looking at the expanse of the place, and 'interacting' with the various figurines - the Lego worker, the furry duck and lamb, a Charlie Brown statue, and the many mannequins. The first time she saw a dark-coloured female mannequin with mouth plastered in a cheshire grin, she was rather apprehensive, and reached her fingers out to touch its shoulders briefly. After touching a few times and assessing there was no danger, she smiled happily and even waved 'hello' at it!

We also let her play with the rocking toys at the kids' level, where she enjoyed rocking and being pushed around on the toy horses. One of the Chinese kids was terrified of a Caucasian dad whose son sat on the same horse as Rosabelle, but our girl just looked on without paying much heed.

After I nursed her at the nice family room in the mall, we wanted to change her diaper and she started screaming excitedly when we laid her down. In the room with us were two cute Korean boys, and the 8.5-month-old one immediately burst into tears when he heard the screaming. He was frightened of Rosabelle's rather threatening screams, just like what happened this morning with another 6-month-old girl (her nanny had to carry her away to appease her).

Rosabelle seems to prefer to play with, and is attracted to, older children, particularly those who can run/walk. When I brought her down just now, she saw some 6- to 8-year-old children playing, and she started screaming excitedly at them, screaming all the time when they were talking to each other. She will also flail her arms happily if any older kid comes near her or if she sees them playing, but goes all nonchalent if it's a younger or similarly-aged kid.

She also amazed the nanny and I again this morning by calling a playmate's name - A-man. It was loud and clear as she called her when A-man and her mum were walking towards us. What followed next was even more unbelievable - she saw A-man's mum carrying a box of sweet potatoes, and maybe she was feeling peckish and wanted some food, but she called out 'A-man Mama'! We usually address each other by the child's name (for example, I am 'Yue Yue Mama'), so Rosabelle must have picked that up. Four words in a row, that's a feat for our girl!