Each child their own

As I watch Nigel and Shannon develop into full-fledged children (no longer babies), their individual characters really come out strong. There are still traces of their babyhood when they burst into tears following a stern scolding or a mishap, but generally, they have become logical, thinking people who you can actually have a decent conversation with.

Celebrating Gong Gong's birthdayNigel, especially, has developed a strong reasoning mind. He's careful, thorough in his reasoning and unafraid to constantly question until he gets a (according to him) solid answer which makes sense. He is technical, going into the details and has defined rules which make up his world - the rules are constantly changing, however, as he digests new information to redefine his understanding of the subject (e.g. sports cars). He loves video games (too much though, according to Celest) which helps him with his hand-eye co-ordination and experimentation.

She ended up not liking candy floss and I had to finish this for her.Shannon doesn't really like video games - she prefers to sit on the sofa and watch the action instead. She's actually afraid of crashing into things, being eaten by the monsters and so on. She is very non-violent and would rather stay out of the way when the boys are playing, happy to play with her dolls and stuff; I think she can't wait for Amber to grow up. Being a very emotionally driven girl, she cares deeply about what others think and say about her. One negative word can make her angry and even cause the tears to roll down. She's less open to reasoning and discussion (maybe because she's only 3) and has trouble understanding actions and consequences when under emotional duress. If you've experienced one of her tantrums, you'll come to the conclusion that small girls are stubborn and always want things their way, and nothing else.

She's a real smiley babyAmber is going to be the most independent of the 3 given that we have less time to shower attention on her. Basically, she spends alot of time on the floor by herself rummaging through Gege and Jiejie's toys looking for stuff to shove in her mouth. So far no mishaps, but we're actively getting rid of small bits of stuff which look dangerous. She's constantly watching her elder siblings running around, playing and talking - just waiting for the right time when she'll sign-up to the gang and become the newest member. As is, she can already stand-up by holding on to things and I won't be surprised if she starts walking by the time she's 11 months old. She's going to be the daredevil of the family! Knocks-wise, she's fallen and knocked her head here and there (against the wall, piano-chair lag, floor) but nothing that serious. Shannon was (and still is) more clumsy and up to today has a tendency of falling of chairs.