I am Quincy

2 days ago after watching Little Einsteins, Reese started saying Quincy do this and that... and I just sort of entertained him by saying yes and no. Every time he said something that Quincy did, he would give me a cheeky smile while trying to do the actions. Then the blur me only realized that he was actually pretending to be Quincy from Little Einsteins! I was delighted. Remember I told you he is not very creative in his playing? I guess he is somewhat exploring that creativity part now. :)

So for the last two days, I have been calling him Quincy and he was so happy. Yesterday when I asked him to do something and he refused, I just had to say Quincy... can you do this and that... guess what? Reese did exactly what I asked. Hehehehe.... it's a good trick but it won't last long.

Occasionally he also pretend to be Leo and he also wanted to be June and I had to explain to him that he is a boy so cannot be June. Obviously he didn't understand but nevermind for now.

Beautiful Jemimah

Yesterday was a very sad day indeed. While I was driving home with Reese and the maid, I received an sms about a dear friend's baby being sent to the hospital. I was told that the baby did not have a heart beat and had difficulty breathing. Immediately I started praying and in less than 5 minutes I received another sms saying that the baby had passed away. I couldn't helped but cry. The baby was almost two months. I still have the full moon present for the baby with me. I regretted that I didn't get to meet this beautiful baby girl whom the mother described as an angel with beautiful eyes.

Being a parent and a mother, I can only wept silently and pray that both parents of the baby will be strong to get over this period of grief. The pain the parents are experiencing is just beyond words. They also have a toddler son. Please pray for them. 

All I can say is to treasure each moment you have with your love ones. Life is so fragile. 

Matthew 5:4

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

Toilet Training Problems

My boy can tell us when he wants to wee or poo... BUT... the past week he has been crying whenever he needs to poo... He is so afraid of his own poo! Hahahaha....

Ok... it'a actually no laughing matter. How do I convince him to sit on the potty? I have also tried the toilet itself, the moment I try to carry him to sit.. he will struggle and cry. Standing to poo also he kept trying to use his hand to 'get rid' of the poo! or when he poo... he will try to avoid it as much as possible... so how? What can do I???

HELP!

New Pets

Before Reese was born, we have some lovely hamsters (at one time close to 20!) and we spent alot of money on cages and tunnels for our fury pets. We also had two turtles. It kept us occupied and we love it. Then I got pregnant and we were told these little pets might not be good for me and baby. So as the pregnancy progresses, we gave the hamsters away to friends and we let the turtles go at the lake in Lake Gardens.

We bought an aquarium when Reese was about 1 plus thinking that he would like watching the fishes and hubby and I can enjoy the fishes too. But due to taking care of Reese and for reason unknown to us , all the fishes died. So we decided to stop raring fish!

Sometime last year, we tried again, restock some fishes and decorated the aquarium. Ever since then, Reese has been enjoying the fishes, watching them swim, watching them eat and everyday without fail, he will ask his daddy to feed fish 'mum mum' (food).

Then he took an interest in turtles. Last week we bought him two green turtles and now every morning and evening, he will feed them and watch them. It's fun for him and hopefully he will learn a thing or two about pets. ;)

First learn through craft project

After I bought the stationary my creative juices started to trickle in, slowly at first and then it started to come in waves.... hehehe..

I sat down and thought I needed to do some craft with Reese but what? Then I thought of making faces. Cutting the eyes, noses, mouths and etc for Reese to paste and make faces. What does he learn from it? I ask myself. He already knew the parts of a face. Oh well, it's craft. It's all about pasting, cutting and having fun. I am not satisfied with my own answer. :) As I stared at the stationary, it suddenly became clearer what craft is all about to ME. It's to teach Reese to be creative in art (plenty of time to nurture that) and to learn! be it science, geography, math and etc. Learning through craft! I am sure it's not new for many parent/teachers/educationist but for me I never thought of learning through craft. To me, craft is always about making pretty things to boost confidence, creativity and etc.

So after realizing the potential of it, I immediately thought of teaching Reese emotions through the faces that we are going to make. We are going to make a little book on emotions fit for a 2+ year old. :)

After spending a good 90 minutes or so, I designed 4 faces with four different emotions. They are a happy face (yellow background), sad face (blue background), angry face (red background) and scare face (green background). After mixing and matching the faces,hair, eyes, noses and mouths the faces looked like this:

I wanted really cute faces but it didn't turn out that way. I guess it's ok considering I am all rusty in my drawing... hehe.. I should do better on my future projects. What you see in the photo is only 80% completed. Reese needs to paste the parts together and then I will label each card and add eyebrows to the faces. Hehehe... they need some cosmetic. Will show you the end result when Reese and I finish the project. Will probably do it this weekend with him. I already know what my next project is going to be. I am so excited. Will tell you more soon.

Finger painting

I got Reese some finger paints. It's non toxic and it's washable. It's packed in squeeze bottles so you can control the mess. The paint is thick and therefore less messy. I like it.

Crayola fingerpaints

Reese enjoyed the finger painting session. At first uneasy with the paint all over his palms, fingers and eventually his arms, table, clothes... you get the picture? He spent about 15 minutes doing it. Not bad for a start.

Artist in the making

Reese's first finger painting master piece

Walking into a stationary shop...

My stationary for craft with Reese

It's eye opening, it brought back great memories of my school days... I kinda missed it. :)
After leaving secondary school, my creative juices just stopped flowing because there was no need for it. Well, at least when it came to art and design. Can you believe it if I told you that I was once the head of the art section of the editorial board in my secondary school? That I was once really good at design and drawing? Ok.... sorry, many of you have never met me nor know alot about me. Hehehe...

Anyway... when I stepped into the stationary shop, I was all excited and didn't know where to start. I was there because I needed to start doing craft with Reese. I have been talking about doing it and yet didn't have the time to go shop for stationary. So this morning, I was determine to do so and I did.

There were so many things to look at and many things were new to me and I just went blank for a second. When I came to my senses, I headed straight to the paper section. Without colour/construction paper you can't do craft. So happily I started to choose different types of paper. I went for the plain coloured construction paper. Didn't want to get those cheap colour paper where the colours will run the moment it's wet and I also bought laser rainbow wrappers. I didn't really know how many pieces of paper/wrapper I bought! some were big and some were small. I even bought a very big piece of form like material intending to make my own stamps for Reese to do stamping! It was so satisfying.

Then I headed to the pen section and got myself two black markers and colour markers. Next I saw some wonderful paint (washable) for Reese to do finger painting. Picked up a glue stick, a bottle of strong glue, a pair of scissors, some strings, an art block and rings. I know I needed more stuff but for now it's sufficient.

My damage was RM120 plus. Paper is expensive!

How to help your child to enjoy reading? - My way

Some children are born to love books and some the opposite. So what can you do to help your child to have an interest in books?

For toddlers who never show interest in books, don't give up. This is what you can do.

First, choose a theme for your story time. You are not only going to read to your child but do a series of activities related to the story first before reading to him. That way, the child will show more interest or able to relate to something that he did before. It's like a bait. :)

An example:


Theme: A story/rhyme about peas.


Rhyme: Peas Porridge


Props: frozen/fresh Pea pods, peas, stationary for craft.

Activities before reading the rhyme:

Craft - make a pea pod using colour paper/ dough. Let the child roll the peas, glue, whatever that interest him. Just be imaginative and make a pea pod.

Sing - If there is a song, go ahead and sing it with your child.

Food tasting - take out the peas and talk about them, let the child taste them, pop the peas out of the pods and just have fun and maybe recite the rhyme or sing it. Telling the child about the rhyme.

Reading aloud - Take out the book and gently tell the child mummy is going to read him a story/rhyme about peas. If the child show no interest, just continue reading with lots of expression and hand gestures and constantly reminding the child about the peas he ate, the craft he did...etc.. but if he is still not interested, it's ok. You continue to read until you finish as long as the child is around and can hear you read. Let the child play with his toys while you read. Don't expect instant results. Repetition is the key. If you think your child is not paying attention to your story... you are wrong. He may be busy playing with his toys but believe me, he is also listening to you. So every other day you read the same story/rhyme to him and after a number of sessions, try to test him by stopping at an interesting part of the story/rhyme and seek help from him! ask him what happen to this and that or ask him to point to this and that. He will most probably give you an answer or help you point.

**Tips: Choose a book with minimal sentences. Add in your own personalized sentences if you want. Sometimes, you don't have to read exactly what is written in the book. Remember, the whole idea is to make your read aloud session interesting for the child.

Just be determine and eventually your child will grow to enjoy reading with you. Tell me if it works. Mummy Darren this post is especially for you.

Play group update

Yesterday was Reese's 5th session at the play group. How is he adjusting you may asked? He is adjusting well. He enjoys going to the play group. 

Activities we did so far:

Free play - Reese loves it. :)

Building fine motor skills - Reese's favourite is using a tong to pick up corks. Yesterday he successfully pick up all the corks and put them into another bowl like a pro. He uses both hands to operate the tong. He loves it. He also likes pouring water from one jug to the other.

Craft time - Somewhat interested. Oh well, he just wants to play with the glue!

Sing song time - The first few times he rarely pay attention to the sing song sessions but rather prefer to walk around and play in the house. The last two sessions I saw an improvement. He still refused to sit with me and the rest but prefer to be in the centre and jump/run/walk while we sang. Songs that were familiar to him he will pay more attention and he would also do actions as and when required. :)

Story time - Not interested. I guess they don't read stories like mummy does. Hehehe....

Behaviour - Overall he behaved well except earlier sessions he will whine for certain things or even shout if demands were not met. But the last two sessions, he was ok.

Snack time - Well, most of the snacks that were served so far, he ate very little of them. He is a picky eater.

Geograhpy for Little People

I read an article about how you can teach a preschooler geography! Is it possible? What do you teach? It's quite interesting. Before I came across this article I was already teaching Reese about weather using the weather song and where is left and right.

Read the article and try some of the suggested activities. They are simple yet educational and I especially like the map thingy. Enjoy with your kids! :)

Geography for Little People
by Lisa Russel

Wonderful ways to teach you preschooler or kindergardner some basic geography!

Geography for Preschoolers

Use directional words like left and right in connection with real situations. "Your cup is on the left." "Let's turn right at the stop sign." "We'll walk two blocks, then turn left at the bus stop"

Playing circle games like "hokey pokey" help to teach right and left. Tie a ribbon or make a dot on the shoe of the right (or left) side, and reference both sides. Reward the child for remembering which side was which.

Begin introducing concepts of north, south, east and west by noticing how sunny the patio is in the afternoon, or how every day after lunch, we must close the blinds in the kitchen. Every morning when we wake up, the sun is shining into the bathroom window, and every night when we eat dinner, the sun has moved into the dining room window.

Children this age may become quite adept at using maps. Let them help make a "fire escape map" of the house, or "treasure maps." My oldest once made a "Where is Emilee" map and waited 15 minutes while her father looked for her after work, it was so cute!

Use sidewalk chalk to make a map of your neighborhood on your patio or driveway. A child can pretend to visit friends, get the mail, or whatever else they do when they walk around the real neighborhood.

Keep pointing out symbols you use in daily life, like traffic lights and store directories.

If you visit a tall building, make a point of looking down onto the city- mention how easy it would be to make a map from here, and how small everything looks below. When you go back down, point out those things that looked so tiny- now they're HUGE.

Planning a trip? Look at the map with your child and point out rivers you may be crossing, or mountain ranges you might drive along. Be sure to point out these things AGAIN when you're on the road.

If you visit National parks or hiking areas, be sure to let the child have their own "trail map" many park rangers give these away for free. If your child is really "following" the map, have them draw interesting things they see along the way.

Puzzle maps are fun for children this age. On a personal note, we had two maps of the United States in puzzle form when my daughter was small, one of which we felt terrible even GIVING away. The outlines of the pieces didn't match the borders of the state- making it seem like Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Connecticut and New Hampshire were all one state. Delaware was actually a part of Pennsylvania and Alaska and Hawaii were Siamese twins. (And they shared an island in the middle of Mexico.) If you must open the box in the store, it is worth it, because good puzzle maps are hard to find.

Encourage children to use their senses to explore their world. "The road is made of hard concrete, so cars can drive on it." "The grass is soft and wet- worms and bugs like to live that way"

What animals do you find in your neighborhood? Pigeons and squirrels, or lizards and coyotes? What do they eat?

Where do they make their homes?

Look at a large outdoor thermometer and talk about how the temperature affects our day. You might want to make a daily chart, eventually showing that each sunny day has a warm temperature, cloudy days are a bit cooler, and so on.

Watch the weather channel on TV or clip the weather maps from the newspaper. Monitor cloud qualities and formations, Will it rain? What do the clouds look like? Are they soft and feathery or thick and puffy, are they white or grey or black?

Keep an eye on local construction sites, how is the earth moved, what do they build first, who can guess what it's going to be? What materials are they using?

If you live in a n urban area, visit a farm, and vice versa. People use space differently and kids this age are often fascinated by that!

copyright 2000 Lisa Russell

Sleepless nights

It's now 3.09am.

I can't sleep again. Why? because Reese woke up asking for milk. From day one Reese never sleeps through the night. He will usually wake up at least once for milk. The last few days were tough on us because he did not sleep well and kept waking up asking for milk. The previous night he woke up at least 3 times asking for milk!

So how do you train a child to sleep through the night? and the past month, before bedtime he will drink milk twice before falling asleep and another 2 to 3 times in between sleep. He has been drinking so much milk! In every 24 hours he will have between 4 to 7 feeds of milk. Too much right? I had to secretly reduce the scoops in his milk. I don't want him to be over weight. *sigh*

At this age do they still have growth spurts? Is it normal to drink so much? I suspect it's more of a habit to help him go to sleep, somewhat like a pacifier... do you think so?

Maid with extreme bad breath

It's been 2 months plus since my new maid came to work for me. Less than 2 weeks after she came, I had to take her to the dentist. The dentist removed 1 tooth. Then I realised that she has extreme bad breath. I got her a tongue brush to clean her tongue but her bad breath still persist. Everyday I had to endure the bad breath while driving. It's horrible. It got me thinking, it must be her teeth. Got her Listerine to gargle and still doesn't really work.

Finally today my mom took her to the dentist and to her horror, the condition of her teeth was really bad. The dentist had to pull another tooth and there are 10 teeth that needed filling. The holes are stuffed with food and that is the cause of her bad breath. The dentist cleaned her teeth which was filled with brownish/blackish food/plague. Goodness my maid is only in her mid twenties! Her dental bill is going to be a bomb. The previous maid of mine had to remove 4 teeth and most of her upper and lower molars are gone. Does your maid have the same problem or it's just my luck? It's so important to take good care of our teeth.

Potty Training update

Ok...... finally I managed to hold Reese's penis and help him to aim! :)

It's weird. Hahaha... I am not used to it and neither is Reese ...but he actually allowed me and that's good. So how did I do it? While he was peeing... I gently told him mummy is going to help Reese wee wee without dirtying his legs... he has been trying to avoid getting his pee on his legs.

First time, I managed to hold but he already finish peeing... hahaha... second time... managed to hold and he pee his last few drops... next time... going to try to hold before he actually pees...

Gosh... this is so weird... so so weird.... the daddy should be doing this! How am I suppose to know which way to hold it and aim it correctly? so weird...so weird...

Once I am successful, I want to try to get him to stand on a stool and help him to pee into the toilet bowl!

This whole wee wee and poo poo business, mmmm it's really not easy... a mother really has to do everything!!

When you are no longer able to take care of yourself...

A month or so back I saw Money is Not Enough II by Jack Neo. At first I thought it was just another silly movie but as the movie progressed I realized it addresses a very important issue for both parents and their children. How do you care for yourself/parents when you/they no longer able to do so. It struck me that it was so so similar to what happened to my maternal grandmother when she was still alive.

The story revolved around 3 brothers and their mother. Their mother initially stayed with the eldest son but as time passed, she became ill and has dimencia. It became difficult to care for her. Later the brothers agreed to take turns take care of her and she started to move around the three children's houses like a nomad. In the movie it showed how hard the poor mother had to fight back tears and emotions and still have her children interest at heart even though they were not sensitive to her needs and occasionally having to bear with the daughthers-in-law. As children, it's also difficult to deal with a parent having dimencia and at the same time having to earn a living and care for the family. It went on to show the selfishness in us human when it comes to money, own interest and time. I believe what goes around comes around.

It was a really touching story that I have somewhat experienced through my grandmother. I knew I will take care of my parents or parents-in-law if ever they need it. It's tough but I think for me, it's the right thing to do. Of course a time will come when taking care of them at home is no longer an option and we will need to seek professional help but as long as I am able to I will do it. I wish my parents are staying with me but it's not possible due to space and also it's a decision that both husband and wife must agree. When you are married, it's more difficult because all decisions must be agreed by both husband and wife.

I remembered the day we had to sent my grandmother to the nursing home and how hard it was to leave her there. The first day was really tough, when it was time for us to go home, she stared at us with a very very sad face as we left the facility. I will never forget that.

Sometimes I felt we as children can be so selfish. Imagine what our parents did to bring us up and all the sacrifices they made and yet in their old age we do not give them similar treament. We prefer to pursue our dreams and leave them alone. I also understand that we need our space and enjoy life. After all life is short. So how? It's so tough right?

Now that I am a mother, I sometimes wonder how Reese is going to be like when he grows up, will he care for us the best he can or not. Hehehehe....

Personally, I wouldn't want to burden my son. He should go and enjoy his life, start a family and be happy as long as he visits me regularly and we are close. When I can no longer take care of myself and need nursing care, I want to go to a nursing home because I know it's very tough on the children having to balance between work, family and caring for their parents. Not to mention having to deal with their spouses if they are not supportive.

You know, recently I met a new friend who actually sold her car, house and some other things so that she could seek professional help to treat her mother. In a short time, she took her mother to over 25 countries to seek treatment for cancer. She told me she spent more than half a million. She used to drive a BMW and now she drives a kancil and doesn't have a permanant place to stay. She has got 3 other siblings and yet she is the only one that went all out to help her mother. Her mother died some 10 months later. Do you think she is a little extreme? I mean spending all her life savings to help her parent? Won't we do the same for our children if they are sick? The answer is yes but will we do the same when it's our parents? Answer is probably not. Why? These are such tough questions to answer right?

***So Reese, if for whatever circumstances you can't take care of me, please send me to a nursing home because I don't want to see you burdened. Just come and visit me often and I know that you love mummy very much. :) If you find me getting mad at you for sending me to the nursing home, please remind me of this blog because son, as mummy grows old, I can't think straight and I want you to be happy and when you are happy I am happy. Oh! If you can afford, please send me to a nice facility ok? :)***

How do you teach a 2+ year old to pee?

Mummies and Daddies,

I have another question, do you help your toddler to hold his birdie to pee?? I don't know what to do... Some of you mentioned about teaching the child to shoot into the potty... so I guess you have to hold it right? I have a feeling Reese will reject my hand if I try.... :) any tips?

Didn't know potty training can be such a challenge.....

Potty Training: I need advice!

Dear mummies and daddies,

Now that Reese knows how to tell us when he needs to go to the washroom.... I have another big problem.

How to get him to pee and poo in the potty?

He refuses to let me put the potty in front of his birdie to 'catch' his pee nor the back to 'catch' his poo... so what now? Every time I bring out the little potty... he will make a big fuss and immediately wants to go out of the washroom.

Every time we go to the washroom it will be a mess. He will pee or poo straight on the floor and we will have to wash him.

I must say he did a great job in telling us, we only trained him for 6 days. :)

What should I do?

Good books to start with toddlers

Honestly, I don't like most of the illustration in Dr. Seuss books. So when I saw this book, I wasn't that impressed. Since it came with my Sonlight Core, I have to give it a try. I tried to 'read' the book with Reese many months ago but he was not interested then until recently...actually 2 days ago... hehe...

I started to read aloud with very expressive hand and facial expression and mimicking different sounds and voices of the dogs! Trust me, at the end of the story... I was all exhausted! But it is worth it. Reese had a really good time laughing and listening to me and pointing and even helping me to read!

After reading the book with Reese a few times, I must say this is actually a great book for young toddlers who are learning to speak in sentences. The text is perfect for early speakers. I realized how well it teaches or reinforces concepts of under/over, up/down, opposites, colors and a some humor. It has definitely grown on me.

Another book that I am using is Dr. Seuss' ABC. Reese doesn't show much interest in this book except for the pages that show the letter F. It's actually quite funny. Reese will laugh out really loud whenever I say this from the book "Four Fluffy Feathers on a Fiffer-feffer-feff." This book teaches alphabets and their sound. Again, I don't like the illustration but I must say it's quite a good book to introduce the sound of the alphabets to toddlers. The letters each take a turn in the spotlight and then are wedded with some well chosen words to demonstrate the sound of the letter. Like for Letter M "Many mumbling mice are making midnight music in the moonlight ... mighty nice."


Reese has always love books. One of his all time favourite is Spot the Dog series. We have about 7 or 8 books on this series. One of the fun things to do is opening and closing little flaps in the books. Reese learned a lot of new words from this series.

Looking back at all the books we have purchased for Reese even before his birth, it is already quite a collection, we have close to 100 books or maybe more... no time to count. One of these days... I am going to take a picture of them.. :) for memory sick. In the coming months I will be reviewing more books that I will be reading with Reese and perhaps you can also share them with your children.

Read Aloud : Books we enjoy

One of Reese favorite from young. It's about a little caterpillar eating it's way to different kind of food and eventually became a butterfly. Reese learned about cocoon and how a caterpillar becomes a butterfly. The fun part of this book is that on a number of pages there are punch holes representing the part that the caterpillar ate! You can also do counting as it shows how many of each fruit/food the caterpillar ate. It's a fun book. Our book is the board book version so it is more hardy. :)

I have started to do read aloud story sessions with Reese a week back. I started with this treasury. It is a great collection of all time favourite classics. There are 12 books in this collection.

We are reading Caps for Sale (1947) a tale of a peddler, some monkeys and their moneky business. Repetition and humor make Caps for Sale a great read-aloud experience. Reese loves to engage in the furor of the peddler and the antics of the monkeys and delight in mimicking the tsz, tsz,tsz sounds.

As we read this story, we also try to act out the story. It's fun. We pretended to be a monkey, we talk about the many colours of caps. I am planning to do some craft base on this.

Harold and the Purple Crayon (1955)
Reese loves baby Harold. Harold is representative of every child; he is a creator and a person of action. His imagination empowers him but also brings him safely back to his bedroom. He has the magical ability to create two-dimensional worlds that satisfy the needs of his three-dimensional being.

Some of the activities we do that relate to this story are drawing baby Harold's adventure. I am not an artist but it's very simple to draw what baby Harold drew. :) We talk about the things that baby Harold encountered as well as his emotions.

Two achivements today!

First achievement

Reese asked to go toilet because he needed to poo poo... but in his actual words he said " Mummy, want to go shh shh" hehehe.... then later in the day he asked Kakak to bring him to the toilet because he wanted to shh shh and he actually urinated. He was diaperless the whole day except for nap time. Had two accidents. Not bad... this is only his 4rd day training and first full day training. I am so proud of my son. Oh... my mother helped me to train him today. :)

Second achievement

Reese had rice for dinner!!! Yes... yes...yes... he ate rice with some yummy meat gravy that my mom made and secretly we added some vegetables in it. I hope he will continue accept different food so that it is alot easier for me to prepare his daily food menu.

28 Months Milestones

Gosh... time flies isn't it?

Just a quick update on my boy's milestones:

Vocabulary - learning more and more and I lost count some months back. He uses big words too like chandelier , eskekerter (escalator), beautiful, cocoon etc... :)

Speech - Very impressive lately. He speaks in sentences 95% of the time. He uses alot of adjectives. Sometimes in one sentence he can use as many as 3 adjectives to describe a noun. :) He also uses adverbs to describe verbs!!

Pronunciation - Getting very good at it. Even strangers can understand what he says.

Phonics - He already mastered all the sounds of the alphabets. I need to move on to diphthongs.

Chinese Language - He knows over 30 words and learning some adjectives and verbs.

Rhymes - He can recite Humpty Dumpty, Peas Porridge, Twinkle twinkle little star, Jack and Jill completely.

Songs - Can't really sing in tune yet but can recite alot of the lyrics like Wheels on the bus, row row your boat, head and shoulders etc...

Counting - Can recite up to 29 and with help can also recite up to 39. He can count up to about 5. Real counting. :) He understand what many and more are.

Read Aloud time: He has shown interest in me reading stories to him. So I have started on one of the homeschool books I bought for him. He seems to enjoy it and eagerly participate with the reading aloud....

Play: Can play on his own for at least 15 minutes. Has better attention span. Willing to play with other children if they are jumping and running around or even shouting...that is fun to him. :)

Physical: He runs very fast, he can jump quite well. Last check he was able to jump at least 6 inches above ground. He can balance on one foot. He can do summersault on the bed and continues to use our mattress as his trampoline. He can shake his butt and his hand eye coordination is getting very good too. He is working on his fine motor skills alot these days.

Social Skills: Getting better, will happily play with other children and adults. Not afraid of strangers. Warms up very quickly. :)

Fine motor skills: He is learning how to take off and put on his pants and shoes. He is able to feed himself quite well using a spoon. He can open doors by turning the knob. He can easily pickup the smallest item on the floor. He can string through holes.

Potty training: In progress... :)

Self Feeding: Alot of Improvement. Can feed himself pasta, cereal, biscuits, cheese and drink from straw or cup.

Food: Drinks more milk and eat bigger portion! He is exploring with other food that he used to refuse like rice (now for fun he will take a spoon full or two from us), he eats green peas! and a variety of noodles whether fried or cook in soup. He now takes oranges and apples (he likes both now that he can chew better) oh...he also takes watermelon.

Weight and height: Hubby said he is about 17kgs now... as for height we are in the dark.

Character: Eeerrr... still too early to tell. At this stage, we are experiencing the so called terrible two stage... at times it can get worse... no words to describe that. He can be very demanding and so far, we can see that he is not the dominant type. He is very mild, not very expressive and can be easily bullied. He is smart (ahem... sorry... all parents will tell you that...hehehe) and pick up things very quickly. He is also very cheeky and playful.

Emotions: Eeerr.. till today, if either one of us pretends to be sad or cry... Reese don't feel a thing. He will continue to play without being bothered. :(

Demands: When we travel on the road, he will demand to go to a certain road or go through tunnels or a bridge and etc... He recognise the route home, to my parents place, shopping malls... the moment we change our route... he will know and demands to get back to the original route!
He likes to tell us what he wants and what he wants to do. If demand not met, well.. he will kick up a fuss and he has learnt to shout and then scream.

Drama king: My boy has learnt the art of acting. It is so obvious. When he wants something and demand not met, he will show you a pitiful face with a pitiful voice...and I tell you.. it's like a pro doing it, one second he was happy and the next he will be the sad little boy... Once he did this and we can't help it but laugh at him, he too finds it funny and immediately stop acting and laughed with us!

Creativity/Imagination: I find that Reese is not very imaginative or creative when he plays. He hardly pretends to be somebody or pretend things around him to be something else. Maybe he is still young? not sure...

Potty Training Again

Yippie!

We kinda have some success! :)

Ok... so on Sunday I decided to try potty training again with Reese after all he already turned 28 months! This time I explained to him that he cannot shh shh (urinate) on the floor nor can he do so on the mattress and he seemed to understand and even repeated after me. Then I kept asking him whether he wanted to urinate every 20 to 30 minutes and most of the time he will answer me with a " Don't want". He did wet his training pants once. Then the second time I continued to remind him not to do so.... and after an hour or so.... I saw signs that he wanted to urinate... so we quickly rushed him to the toilet and he did it. :) One problem thou, he refused to use the potty. So I had to just let him stand there and urinate...so it's kinda messy. I figure it's ok for now until he can tell me that he needs to go and then later teach him to use the potty. The last time we tried potty training, in less than 2 hours, Reese wet all three training pants and another 2 briefs...this time, only wet 1 training pants :)

Yesterday I tried again in the morning, did the same thing, kept reminding him not to urinate on the floor and kept asking him whether he wants to urinate but in 1 hour he wet his pants 3 times.. after that... I told him it's ok..but you have to tell me.... I show him the mess and told him it's not nice to urinate on the floor...bla..bla..bla.... after that... guess what? He wanted to poo... and I panicked... He kinda told me that he wanted to poo... so we went into the toilet again... i tried to put him on the toilet bowl but he refused... potty also refused... so... I let him poo standing... hehe... and queitly I tried to catch his poo! and I did it ...hehehe.... but there were bits here and there... it was kinda funny cause Reese refused to let me wash him until I clean up the poo on the floor... he is afraid of his own poo... hehe...

So yesterday was quite good.... manage to go without diapers from 8 am to 10.30am with one poo and 1 pee in the toilet. :)

Will try again today..... :) It's definately less stressful when they are ready. So my advice is don't force a child if he is not ready cause everyone will be stressful! :)