Dry night?

Tobey has been going to the loo to wee since 2 years and 1 month old. But poo-poo is a different story altogether. He refused to poo in the loo and only goes in the diaper. So his days were diaperless until after dinner, then he will ask for a diaper to do his business. After that he will have his shower and stay diaperless until sleep time. We tried to persuade him to deposit in the toilet a few times but failed miserably. He rather hold his poo in until his night time diaper comes along. This went on until June this year, a few days after his 3rd birthday. SK decided to get him to poo in the toilet again..this time he was promised 3 tic-tac sweets if he succeeded. He was also given 1 or 2 whilst trying to tide him along. Suddenly, it happened. SK witnessed it. I was so upset that I didn't get to see that magic moment. Nevertheless, I was overjoyed. The following day, he told us he wants to poo but was a bit too late and pooed in his trousers instead. He was very apologetic after that. It was as if he was embarrassed to have done that. From then till now, he's been telling us whenever he wants to poo (except for a few times when he pooed in his night diaper in the morning. When we asked him why? He said because mummy was sleeping and daddy was bathing, so he had "no choice"). I was really afraid of a relapse, but thankfully he didn't. So now we can confidently say that he's potty trained.

The only diaper he wears now is when he sleeps. A few nights ago, I forgot to put on his night diaper for him. But he was dry when I gave him his morning milk. I truly think it is most likely just a one-off because from what I read, they will still need a night diaper till 4 years old. So I didn't purposely leave him diaperless after that. Should I? Hmmm ..I better get a mattress protector first before finding out.

Tobey's first snowman

SK came home today and immediately set out to build his son his very own snowman in our back garden, as mummy couldn't bear the cold...brrr

Spending time with grands

My parents are visiting for a few weeks. Tobey has been enjoying all the extra attention showered upon him. In fact he's downright milking it. His tantrums are extra dramatic and loud, knowing that he'll get more rescues by doing so. He entertains them by mimicking (e.g. he hold his hands together behind his back and walk slowly, just like my dad) their actions and his usual antics around the house. It's been great to see him bond with his maternal grandparents.

Below are several pics taken in the snow storm today. Tobey spent lots of time just staring at the drooping flakes at the window sill. Despite all, he remembered to look for his usual "wow-wow" (dog) in one of the houses opposite and birds on rooftops.

with grandpa and grandma

making footsteps

19 Months Old

Listening to music on the pc

It's been 11 months since his last weighing and height measuring session. After many queries about his weight (such as "he's so heavy! is he 20Kgs?!"), I finally brought him to the baby clinic today.

Weight: 13.24Kg
Height: 85cm (head to heel)

Weight wise, he's at the 91st percentile. A slight drop from the previous measurement of about 98th percentile. Height wise, he used to be around the 95th percentile, but now only at the 75th percentile.

I discussed with the nurse about his slow speech development. She straight away knew that I am comparing him to little girls. She said that girls tend to be much faster in picking up speech and thinks that Tobey is "normal" for a little boy his age.

Like any other 19 months old, he loves play. He copies us till the very last detail. That's why we are pretty careful in what we say and do in front of him. He copies us in driving, dressing up, cleaning, reading, writing, talking on the phone, using electrical equipments, dancing, locking and unlocking doors. He can literally turn on the correct socket switch to the DVD player (there are like 4 others ) pops his Balamory CD in and presses play. The only way of stopping that is to pull the plug off the socket.

He loves the company of other kids, but his personality of a big bear with a gentle and calm demeanour is not doing him much good. He's prone to being bullied. It's typical of toddlers to snatch toys or even push or pull to get what they want, or to establish territory. But my boy, he doesn't do that. He very very seldom pushes, snatches or screams at another. For example, If another tod snatches a toy he's playing, he would move on to another toy and wait for his turn on the toy that was snatched from him earlier.Then 10 mins later, he would readily share his precious biscuit with the same kid! When someone pushes him off a riding toy, he would bounce up and move on. He very seldom came running to me crying, except when he was hurt really badly. Although we are generally proud of his happy and mature behaviour, we really do hope he would learn to strike a better balance soon. At least for his own self-defence! But how??? How do you teach a kid to retaliate?! headache.

He doesn't seems to see himself as a baby anymore. When asked "how a baby cries/plays/dances/sleeps?" He would start pretending out his own interpretation of a baby. Funny. He loves music, like his daddy. Both of them can spend ages in the study listening to music and just chilling out together. He dances to catchy music. But loves relaxing to Vonda Shepherd, just like his daddy. He's very methodical and loves routine. Every night before going to bed, he insists on turning off the hall lights, the tv, put away several toys, shut the doors to the hall and pull down the blinds to his room. When I cook without my apron, he would get the apron and hand it to me, and stand beside me to make sure I wear them before going back out to play.

He still loves fruits and vegetable. We were in a restaurant in Birmingham the other day. The couple at the next table were surprised that we said "Tobey, if you take another scoop of rice, we will give you this carrot" Let me explain, we now boil slices of carrot or broccoli florets and bring them with us when we eat out, as a bribe/reward/incentive system when he finishes his lunch/dinner. Recent favourite is cucumber. He hyperventilates from excitement when a bowl of cucumber is placed in front of him.

That's all I can think of at the moment :)

Housewarming Pics

We had our housewarming lunch on the 10th of Jan 2009. Tobey's 19th month birthday :) Yes, that was planned. I told myself not to be stressed-out over cooking and make sure that we are in a relaxed mood, so that our guests would also feel at ease. We ordered and bought almost half of the spread and the other half was nasi lemak and few easily made curries and sambals. It worked. The party lasted till dinner time! There were 5 other cutie-pie kids. Needless to say, Tobey enjoyed himself until he refused to nap. Both me and SK weren't feeling too well, thankfully my BIL and his partner were there to help us. Leaving us more time to enjoy everyone's company. Here are several pics.

The food...


Let's eat!
The kids...



Kids and the daddies...
Kids and the mommies...
The goodbye...
Thanks everyone for coming!

First Snowy Walk

It snowed last week. The snow stayed on the ground for several days. It was slippery, freezing cold and at the same time beautiful to look at. Everything was white and clean looking. My son took his first snowy walk then. He was so curious and cautious at the same time, kept looking down whilst walking slowly, bending down to touch the snow, grabbed some in his hand and then shook them off a few seconds later.





I felt so glad that I was there to witness this.

18 Months Old

At playgroup

Yesterday was the first time Tobey and I ventured into our new city centre without SK. It was easier than thought, but I had to constantly mind those bicycles zooming by the sides and front! There's bicycle lanes on almost every busy road, hence made the road narrower for cars. My objective was to try to score some bargains at The Pier, who recently went into administration. When I was there, I realised all dining sets were sold, even those on the shop front. I wanted several mirrors, but they don't do delivery anymore and expect me to carry it out of the shop on my own! Obviously it's not possible as I have a stroller and an active toddler to care for. Their staff were rather unhelpful and rude. I know there's no incentive for them to be nice as they were about to loose their jobs (one of them told me it'll be before Christmas), but it's not the customers' fault. Anyway, I only managed to grab some coasters, hooks and Christmas wreath. I guess it's good anyway, since the recession is on. It's best to spend frugally.

Anyway, after lunch at Giraffe (he refused half his home-made lunch, but ate the small bowl of fries I ordered for him), Tobey had a jog around the park separating the 2 shopping areas. We went home soon after that.

"hai yah! This mommy ar, so cold also want to snap pictures"

"I'll pose for you anyway"

Today my darling is 18 months old already. He is growing up to be a boy with a rather strong personality. Wants to do things for himself (for us too) and participate more in household chores. For example, when it's time for his evening bath, he wants to get his own towel, turn on the bathroom lights and open the bathroom door. He wants to put the lid back on his flask, bottles, jar and such. If I were to describe him in words, they would be happy, giving, sociable, insistent/stubborn and loud but with a very gentle soul. Sometimes when he's annoyed with us, he would not look at us and not speak to us for quite a while, which is so funny to watch. As parents, we try to stay as firm (but kind) as we can in terms of discipline. I am sure parents out there would agree that it's easier to spoil a child than to keep him/her grounded. Quite challenging as he changes each week. He's a fruit and vege addict now. When in the supermarket, he would scream if I don't add his broccoli, carrots, grapes, satsumas and bananas into his shopping cart. Which is a good thing :) At least my effort of incorporating vege in his daily meal paid off.

"not again! I am eating, go away!"

"ahhh...bliss"

"Yum yum"

"All gone!"

Happy 1 1/2 years old my baby. You've brought more joy and meaning to our lives than you can ever imagine. Lots of love.

New Home

Concentration

Tranferring...

...and drawing...

Funny to watch when he concentrates hard and spend ages doing his "activities" again and again. Occasionally, he would look up and smile proudly at us. Another favourite is reading (believe it or not)...fingers crossed...hopefully this will continue.

My Little Surf Turtle

In his 2-piece swimsuit

Testing out the lockers himself (I cut his back hair, too straight as you can see)

Yesterday, I brought him swimming for the first time. We don't own any club membership, so it was in a local leisure centre (public pool).

He was all cheery and happy when we I told him that "we are going swimming, OK. Play with lots of water". Still OK when we were in Tesco purchasing his arm band, inflatable waist ring (which came with an inflatable beach ball as well). He was his usual self, waved at cashier and smiled at anyone that smiled at him.

Once in the changing room, he didn't protest and let me changed him into his special swim nappy and swim suit. BUT, as soon as the arm band was on. He knew something was wrong.

I first placed him standing on the shallow part of the water. He was stoned for literally a minute. Looked around, looked at his feet, looked at me. Then I carried him into a slightly deeper side so that he can float his arm band and felt warmer. He started CRYING! That was not the response I was expecting from him. I thought he would be overjoyed to be given a chance to play with so much water.

For the next 20 minutes, he clinged on to me and whimpered and cried in between observing the kids around him having fun.

Me: Tobey, you don't want to play water?
Tob: (shake head vigorously)
Me: You want to go home?
Tob: There, there, there (whilst pointing at the direction we came from)

So I took him out. Maybe because I waited too late (only after all his immunisation jabs) to introduce him to the pool, or maybe because there were too many people and echoed in this indoor pool.

Maybe we should join a club after all.

(Side ranting: my locker key -which was a magnetic coin on a band- was faulty. Being the first time using it, I thought the locker was faulty when it wouldn't lock when I used the band to touch it. So I shifted lockers TWICE. In the midst, I dropped my clothes and the coins in my jeans pocket fell down. A kid pretended to help me pick up a £1 coin and pass it to me. But instead of actually letting go of the money, he retracted his hand and ran off! Yes, he stole my money! If I have a free hand and not in the midst of shifting locker, holding on to Tobey, and trying to get an attendant to help me, I would definitely ran after him and ensure that his parents know of his vice...GRRRRRRRR)

Library visit

Tobey's first library card and set of library book

Tobey is not much of a book person. The best he could do is to sit till I finish reading him the story and then would proceed doing other things. Very rarely he would choose reading over other toys. We are ok with that. But just incase he decides to take up reading more seriously, which is not a bad thing at all, we've signed him up at the local library. His library card can borrow up to 20 books for 6 weeks until he's 5! There are 3 library within 2 miles radius to choose from. Plus the books we buy him, I am sure there's enough book exposure for him. The selection of books is very important as well. I am hopeless at that. But am trying to select based on what he might like and not what I feel he should be reading. I think I am getting there. Recently I bought him a "In the night garden" book and he seems to like it and kept wanting it to be read to him.

His first set of library books includes several DK Animal Feel n Touch series, and two other animal themed books. They were new (the library branch I chose is pretty out of town)!. I also got him a "In the night garden" DVD for £1.50 per week. Got myself an Annabel Karmel's recipe book for toddler.

Here's him trying to figure out what so special about this little plastic card that mommy has been making such a fuss about...

The First Certificate

When it was his turn to go get his cert, I was half expecting him to make a zoom for his teacher's glass of water on the table edge, but he went up and accepted his cert with both hands and a smile instead. Phew!

What did he learned from Music Class?
He learned about taking turns, sharing and the joy of music .

Even though, every kid in the class got a cert, I was so proud of him nevertheless (nearly shed a tear...hahahah!). My boy's first certificate.

*Hullabaloo*...

...is an activity centre for kids of all ages. It consist of large frames of play structures, slides and all sorts. Right in front of the structures, there is a large restaurant area, where parents can mingle and have some food. I drove (hehehe) Tobey there for the first time today. Paid £2.95 (which include drinks and biscuits) , handed over his shoes to be stored and was given laminated number to retrieve the shoes later.
Firstly, I put him in the "under 3" section. There were a ball pool, tonnes of rubbery Lego and several lovely little kiddos. I still need to monitor him so that he don't graze his wound further. Managed some small talk with a few parents. Tobey enjoyed himself. He dipped into the ball pool and threw balls out. There was a nasty little kid that was probably 3 kept throwing the balls back at Tobey's head. Since my son still does not know the evil of this world, he thought it was a game. I told the kid (brat) nicely (with a stern nursery nurse face nevertheless) "That's not very nice of you, throw the ball back into the pool, not at the boy, ok". Miraculously, that worked and I gave him a hesitated "Well done!". In my head, I was slam-dunking him headfirst into the pool.
Then there was those Lego blocks...he just tried stacking them up and destroying them the next second just when it's knee high.

After another 20minutes there, and many more kiddos getting in later, he got bored. I gave him something to eat and drink then we ventured into the "Over 3" area. That's when the fun began. There were many slides which reminded me of a mini Mimaland of my childhood. Knowing that Tobey loves slides, I braven myself up and took him to one of it. When right at the top, I nearly chickened out (fear of height and being stuck halfway and being laughed at), but Tobey kept trying to wiggle out of my grip to get down on his own! No choice. I just held tight to him and slided down the wavy slide which was like 3 storeys high. My heart popped out. But he totally enjoyed it.

After that, whilst I was catching my breath, I just let him explored the many corridors, corners and frames whilst standing way back.
We went home for lunch after 2 hours. £2.95 well spent I would say.

Bruised

Picture was taken in the dark, hence the colour

No, he didn't get into a brawl at his playgroup. He fell.

Only yesterday, SK was saying "Looking at the way the boy runs, it's amazing he still hasn't fell flat on his face"...and he did today. He was braving the concrete steps in the garden whilst holding on to his lantern. Usually when he tries to get down those steps like an adult (rather than on his hands and knees), I would hold on to one of his hands. But I was busy day-dreaming whilst hanging the laundry and by the time I noticed, he finished his "tumbling down and fell flat on his face" action. He bruised his face at the left cheekbone area. There was some blood. I freaked out and screamed "Oh no!!! my baby my baby!". The neighbours must have thought what a bad mother I was. Aargh. I am so annoyed at myself.

Tobey Today and Alone for the first time

It was a gloriously sunny day today. It's one of those days where you can put anything on the washing line and it will guarantee to dry. These kind of days are few and far between. Tobey spent the whole morning in the garden. Let it be known that I tried my best putting on his hat for him and making sure it stays there, but his little fingers were faster than mine.

"See! I am helping you mommy"

"Because I am big boy now!"

After 'helping' me with the laundry, he practiced his football dribbling skills. Thanks to SK, our son now can dribble the ball from one end to another whilst screamed out enthusiastically. Funny. We bought him a new pair of sporty shoes (which has got blinking LED lights accompanying each step) to match his new found talent :P

"Look mommy, this is how daddy does it"

Change of topic: Sk is away on business trip. It was the first time he left us two in the UK alone. Initially, I was unsure of how I'll cope 24/7 with little active Tobey, but it turned out to be quite fun. Not having to cook propper adult meals was a bonus as that freed up alot of time for me to do my own things. We just carried on as per normal. Going to playgroup, to town, for walks, play in the garden , etc etc.

Tobey missed his dad alot. On the first night on our own, he heard SK's voice through the speaker phone (cordless phone on speaker mode). Then last night, he placed the cordless phone on my lap and said "ta-ti there!" So I dialled SK and once he heard his daddy's voice, he smiled and kissed the phone. Normally before going to bed, he would wave goodnite to his dad. He carried on waving each night before bed whilst looking for his dad, which was nowhere to be found. And this morning, after I picked him up from his bed to go to mine, he kept saying "ta-ti" and looked under the stack of pillows on SK's side to look for him (as SK sleeps with a pillow on his face) and looked ever so dissapointed when his daddy was not under those pillows... I found that terribly sweet. I kept telling him that daddy is at work and will be back soon.

"Ta-ti and me, best friends forever"