This CNY and Potty Training Updates

Many people asked me how was my CNY after I returned to work. I just told them it was ok. But in reality, it was actually horrible. But how can I say that because that would only encourage them further to ask me to elaborate. Obviously, I won't mention it also here but yeah there you go. It was a horrible CNY for me. I just wish I could turn back the hands of time but what is done cannot be undone.

I'm not sure what this post is going to be about. But maybe I should move on to other brighter things or just share some pictures. 

The kids with their cousins on the morning of the first day of CNY. The newest addition to the family and the center of attention now, their 5 month old cousin Zi Qi.

Elizabeth in some of her CNY outfits.

Yee Sang is a must for me every CNY. It's my favourite.

The CNY mall deco in Suria KLCC. 

The kids posing for pictures in Suria KLCC.

On another good note, Joseph has been diaper less throughout the night already! It could be between the mid of January to the beginning of February. A major feat for him and we're very proud of him considering how reluctant he was with the idea at the beginning of potty training. And how he likes to poo once we slip on the diapers for the night. He was already without the diaper during daytime and nap time for quite some time already. Then we realised that on some nights he's diaper was completely dry. That's when we decided to try taking him off the diaper at night and see how it goes. So far there were only two or three series of unwanted occurrences. It's been all good. Cross my fingers. Well, potty training is all about hits and misses. All we need is patience and no pressure. Joseph is 3 years and 7 months. 

Drawing Circles

My little boy Joseph can draw circles already! You know with two kids in tow, sometimes some minor milestones nearly go unnoticed. Especially with the second child. The first child usually gets more observation from us because back then, we only have one child to look after. 

Anyways, when did he started drawing circles, I'm not sure. But all of a sudden that day he whipped out his doodle toy and started drawing circles. Then he proudly showed it to me saying, "Mummy! Look, circle!" What else, I whipped out my camera lah. The doodle toy comes together with a book. He tried to copy the picture with quite an impressive outcome. Considering he hardly draws at home. From my recollection, I think his sister draws more at his age. 

Doodling for the camera.

Proudly showing to the camera.

Trying to copy Lenny the Binoculars from Toy Story.

Then big sister wants attention and wants to join in too. So she started drawing space like planets and stars. She requested for her picture to be taken also. LOL. Kids, always want attention from their parents huh?

This is her version of Earth, Saturn and Moon. Hehe.

Now with other planets and stars even snowflakes. Look! She even wrote her name in chinese. I'm so proud of her. Thanks to Papa for making her practice during the holidays before school starts. 

On the other hand, Joseph's potty training has shown progress despite me being lazier the second time around. I was not as hard on him as I was with his sister. I haven't been using a diaper during his afternoon nap for already a few months. I didn't keep track of how many months exactly. He can now go to the bathroom to pee and even flush by himself. 

There's good news too in the poo project. It's been a few months too that he is brave enough to tell us he wants to poo. Now he sits on his throne with an additional baby toilet seat on the toilet bowl. Poos without fuss now. Previously, he used to be scared of the toilet bowl and wants to quickly come down. He used to suppress his poo from coming out too and waits until we put on his diaper at night, then he'll do his business. Got me so frustrated. Now when I put him up on his throne to poo, he'll say, "Mummy go, don't see me!" And I'll just leave him alone until he calls me to clean up for him. How cute and konon like an adult. As for the night time diapers, I still don't have the confidence to let him be diaper free. Some night he's dry but some nights his diaper is still wet. I hope diaper free nights will be here soon.

Joseph is 3 years and 6 months while Elizabeth is 6 years and 2 months.  

Activities For Preschoolers Or Toddlers 2

Running out of ideas on how to keep your children busy? You can actually use anything in the house to amuse them. Like I did with their empty medicine bottles and plastic cookie jars. I open their lids, placed all the bottles and lids in front of them and  asked them match lids to bottles. This can improve their motor skills right? They had fun putting the lids on and off over and over again.

Joseph got excited and stuffed all the smaller bottles into the plastic jar. Then he carried the jars and ran round and round his sister. *shakes head*

Elizabeth wants to do it too.

If you want good, old-fashioned fun then construct a tent together. I used my extra blankets and chairs. Add a night light for more fun to the atmosphere. Then playtime can begin! My tent was up for a few days. The children didn't allow me to dismantle it so fast. 



First, the living room light was on, then they asked me to switch it off. At one point, it would be pitch black if not for the night light.

Joseph was inspired by the darkness that he started singing. LOL.



Activities for Preschoolers or Toddlers

I'm always looking for activities for my children to keep them busy and to avoid them watching too much of the telly. Especially at night, I won't allow tv after dinner time. So there will be a window of a little spare time right before their bedtime routine.

I've gathered some ideas from the internet as usual and recently we did 'foot tracing'!

First, I trace their foot and then I let them trace mine.

Then I let them trace my foot again on another piece of paper.

Decorate the traced foot with anything. Ring, bells. flowers, etc. As you can see the drawings are mine and Elizabeth's. But those colourful strokes are Joseph's. He prefers to decorate it that way, I guess. LOL.

All those tracing and decorating suddenly inspired them to have another drawing masterpiece. This is the outcome.

Another activity we did was having fun with tapes. You can use any tape you want but I used cellophane tape. Cut a few strips and let him stick anywhere he wants. But of course be careful not to allow him to stick on precious stuff like books. 

Goofing around with the cellophane tape even before we started.

Joseph sticked it on my thigh. (Unflattering pic sorry.) And he along with other places like my body, floor, laundry basket, etc.

Children like to keep themselves busy. Go on and try them. Have fun!

A Visit From The Tooth Fairy

Recently, Elizabeth lost another milk tooth again. It's one of bottom front tooth. This is the 3rd one already. I was not able to capture the moment or keep the teeth previously because it never happened in front of me.

There was once, Elizabeth went to bed with a shaky tooth and woke up the next day without the tooth anymore. We were wondering whether she actually swallowed the tooth in her sleep. And no, I didn't check her stools. LOL. It's still a mystery to us and we will never know the truth.

This time, her tooth dropped right in front of me while she was eating. So what else? I whipped out my camera and took pictures. She was a little shock and scared when the tooth suddenly came loose. But I calmed her down and told her that if she gets lucky she might get a visit by the tooth fairy. That made her happy and forget her fears. I told her that she has to put her tooth under her pillow that night and the tooth fairy will come to visit her while she is sleeping. The tooth fairy will give a reward in exchange of the tooth. As always, there will be many questions after a story has been told.

Elizabeth: What is the reward?

Me: We shall see.

Elizabeth: But we cannot see if not the tooth fairy won't come.

Me: -_-..I mean we will know the next day.

Elizabeth: Then what if I wake up in the middle of the night to find you? What if I see the tooth fairy and the tooth fairy sees me? Then she won't give me the reward.

Me: Then try not to wake up in the middle of the night. Try to go back to sleep quickly.

Elizabeth: But I will surely come and find you at night!

Me: Sigh. Don't worry, you won't get to meet the tooth fairy and you will get your reward.

Elizabeth: How come?

Me: The tooth fairy will make sure she won't bump into you. Fairies are not to be seen by people. She will make sure you won't wake up when she comes. Don't worry.

That night, as soon as she fell asleep, I quickly put a RM1 note under her pillow before I forget. So cheapskate this mummy, only give RM1 but never mind lah I already spent a lot on her. Hahaha.

She was happy enough with the RM1 the next day. How innocent my little girl is. ;)

Can you see I'm toothless?

Her tiny tooth on her own tiny hands.

Mother's Day Card

In case, the card would go missing one day although I will definitely keep it, I decided to record it down into my blog. This year like other years since she went to kindy, my daughter came back with a Mother's Day card she did in school. She showed it to me proudly and wished me.

The front. It's so cute the way she writes her Chinese characters. Haha.

The back. I find it cute and funny with that question there , "Good for you Mummumy(wrong spelling haha)?" From is foam. hehe.

Thank you for your effort, dear Elizabeth. I appreciate the card very much. Mummy loves you very much! I can feel the love..hehe.

On to another story, my two kiddos are like any other siblings. They have their good times and bad times. They can be loving to each other during good times and behave like enemies during bad times. LOL. But there were a few occasions where it shows how much they love each other.

1. When I found out that Joseph did something naughty, his sister would defend him by giving me excuses or reasons on why Joseph did it. She made it sound like he wasn't in the wrong!

2. She gives in to him more than her brother gives in to her.

3. There was once the two squabbled and that left Elizabeth in tears. She ran away crying but Joseph ran after her and quickly apologised, "Sorry Jie Jie. Sorry Jie Jie".

4. Another incident happened when Joseph wanted to paste some stickers from his Thomas and friends sticker activity book. Elizabeth wanted to join in but he shooed her away. So she ran away in tears again. But again he ran after her and said to her, "Come Jie Jie, stick together".

I admit the squabbling I don't like but it's when they make up, it's so sweet to witness it. I'm sure you guys agree with me right?

School holidays are coming. Enjoy your holidays with your kiddos. :)

Joseph's first time attending his sister's Sports Day.

Happy Mother's Day

"Happy Mother's Day!" Elizabeth exclaimed animatedly while handing me a gift she did for Art in kindy when I picked her up from the babysitter. She gave me the gift last week. So I said, "Thank you dear but Mother's Day is next Sunday but it's ok." She told me how she did the paper cup as the pot and I just listened and stroke her hair. Even though the kindy came up with this idea to appreciate mums, I'm still thankful and touched with my daughter's action. I can feel the love.

Although Joseph has not been told about Mother's Day, his good night kisses everyday and sweet good byes everyday when I go off to work is enough to make my heart contented and know that he loves me. Hearing "good bye, mummy! (flying kiss)" always makes my journey to work filled with happiness despite the traffic jams.

When your child makes you happy, you want to make them happier. So go on and make your child happy. Sing and dance with them like I did last night. We sang and dance. We also played "London Bridge Is Falling Down". We were so exhausted after that but happy. Now, I'm excited to celebrate Mother's Day this weekend with my own mother and make her happy.

I'd like to wish all mothers reading this in advanced (because I don't blog on weekends) a Happy Mother's Day and hope you had a fulfilling one!

I placed the gift beside our family picture. Elizabeth was 2 years and 8 months and Joseph was 1 month old then.

Activity For Energetic Children

Got energetic toddler or preschooler? Do this.

Get your kids upside down in a fun game of "wheel barrel" where you lift up your child's feet and push him/her along as he/she walks on his hands. Good exercise for kids and ourselves too! Hehe. They liked it!

Have a nice weekend!

Why Are Children So Persistent?

Why are children so persistent? Or is it just my children? LOL. When they want something, they seem to 'die-die' also must have it! Are we just weak parents now? Always seem to give in to their whims and fancies most of the time? Of course, I tried to be strict. I tried to set rules. But sometimes, you'll just get tired and say, "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em! LOL.

Not all their whims and fancies are specifically bad ones, it's just that sometimes it's at an inappropriate time. Just like the times, when...

1. We were rushing to work and we were already at the door but Elizabeth insisted that she must finish reading her book first.

2. We were rushing to work again and Joseph demanded to wear his socks and shoes just like his papa although he is just going to the babysitter's house.

3. I arrived at the babysitter's house and saw that the children's eyes were glued to the idiot box then I announced that it's time to head home but they protested louder than a lion's roar.

4. I wanted to be done with my mopping as fast as I can because we had plans to go out but Elizabeth said she wants to be a handy helper and help me with the mopping.

5. I wanted to carry on with their bedtime routine but was stopped in my tracks and 'forced' to become a paparazzi to this celebrity.

6. We were travelling in the car and Elizabeth thought that it was too sunny, I had to give up my sunnies after much pestering.

7. Elizabeth wanted to copy nearly everything she saw on the telly and decided to camp in the house. Both children were hell bent in sleeping in the tent that night and I just waited to see how long it will last. Well, guess what? They gave up in the end. LOL.

Diaper Less Days Are Here

Yes, diaper less days are here finally. And hopefully it is here to stay and we can all look forward to diaper free days soon. Actually I've started to potty train Joseph since he was about 30 months old. But at that time, he didn't want to tell when he's about to wee wee and we had a few leaky incidents. I confessed I sort of gave up after that because I felt that why force him when he wasn't ready? With Elizabeth, she was easier because she was more co-operative and she started potty training much earlier when she was 1 year plus. Something I'm very proud of. Hehe.

So anyway, with Joseph you could say maybe I've slacked or maybe I have a different thinking now and decided to let him be until he is ready. Now that he can speak better, I gave it a try again at the beginning of this month March. It was a success! Slowly but surely Joseph is able to tell us when he has the urge to pee and the leaky incidents have been reduced. 

However, we still have a problem because he still refuses to do his 'big business' in the potty. He will either do it in his diapers or do it while standing up in the toilet. LOL. So gross because I have to pick his litter up (using lots of tissue of course!). Oh well, again until he is ready to poo in the potty. Keeping my fingers crossed.

After he washes up whenever he poos, this cheeky boy will run out of the toilet and do a little 'PG rated' dance with legs bend and wide apart while shaking his willy. He even has a song for his little dance. While dancing he will sing, "shaker, shaker shaker!" LOL. There is a video of him doing that but too bad it's not for sharing since I do not have a video editor that can blur the censored parts. 

Joseph is also improving in the vocabulary department. His favourite and most overused word is 'too'. Everything is, "too tired, too heavy, too high, too many, too sleepy!" LOL. Recently, he likes to say "Moozee". It's actually "excuse me" whenever he burps, hiccups, farts or wants us to make way for him. LOL.

So these are some updates on Joseph who is 32 months old now. In four months time he is going to turn 3!

Boys With Guns, Girls Who Dance

What's with boys and their fascination with guns? I don't encourage and that's why I don't have a toy gun for my boy, Joseph. But still some how, some way he came to know about this thing called 'gun'. From where, I'm not certain but it could be the times when he got the chance to play with his cousin's toy gun or I blame it on the TV although violent or action movies are quite controlled in our household. Maybe it's just natural for boys?

Joseph knows how to build a gun by himself using blocks.

Watch the video to see him in action.

And what's the deal with girls and ballet? I don't know whether your girls are also interested in ballet. But mine is. My best friend said that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Maybe she's right because I learnt ballet when I was young too. Her father took her to the bookshop during CNY and asked her to choose a book. She chose this book called Ballerina Stories. She's so in love with this book that she reads it everyday! So interested was she that we signed her up for ballet finally.

A gift from papa.

The book has many stories in it.

Elizabeth getting ready for ballet class. Joseph is so curious about the ballet shoes.

My little ballerina and her accomplice. Peace out!

Kids Rule Our Weekends!

Once you have children and once they can talk well like my dearest daughter Elizabeth, they start to request or demand for stuff. Even the little one, Joseph is catching up and learning from his sister. As much as I do appreciate certain requests because sometimes I've also run out of ideas on what activity to do during the weekend but there are times when you have planned out an activity and she's not game for it. Or you're just too tired and about to lift your legs up and then there comes the dreaded request or demand. I don't know about you, I'm not saying they're like that every weekend but if you know what I'm saying then let's high five! LOL.

Here are a few scenarios of how my kids ruled my weekends:

1. I'm happily doing some household chores, little brother is asleep and big sister will suddenly come up to me and say she wants to do some art. She will bug me until I stop what I'm doing and bring out all her art materials.

2. The kids were watching the telly and suddenly papa wants to switch channels or switch off the telly because he said they've watched enough, Elizabeth will whine and Joseph will start a screaming fit. (this same case happens to mummy also). What excuse sometimes works for me is I'll say to Joseph that the TV is getting hot and once it's too hot it will explode and his face will become black because of the explotion. He'll relent sometimes..:P

3. You just came home from a tiring weekly grocery shopping outing with the family and have just put down the groceries when your girl starts asking whether she can go swimming or not. She won't take no or later for an answer. Don't they get tired?

4. I just finished reading to the kids their bedtime stories and was about to bring them to sleep (so happy to finaly get some me-time) when suddenly Elizabeth said she haven't played the piano. I should be happy that she is keen to play the piano but it clearly wasn't the right time.

5. Since morning, the kids have been chanting, " I want to go to the park, I want to go to the park..." and they stopped in the evening when we finally bring them to the park.

Have a great weekend and for those who are travelling back to hometowns for chinese new year, do drive safely. Enjoy the festivity and happy holidays!

Here's wishing those who celebrate, Gong Xi Fa Cai and may you all have prosperity in this year of the Dragon.

When your child vomits

In the previous post, I've mentioned that Elizabeth was down with vomiting and diarrhoea. She is fine now and already started attending preschool this week already. So far, no crying drama from her and she is going through preschool very well. After all, the teacher replied that she's a big girl already, she's six years old this year(actually she just turned five last November :P) when I asked the teacher how did she fare on her first day in preschool. I'll be crossing my fingers that there'll be no crying drama this year because I've endured her crying dramas for two years in preschool already!

I want to also share on what to do when your child vomits from my experience and advise from my paediatrician. When your child starts to vomit a few times and keeps rejecting any food he/she has eaten, of course you'll have to take your child to see a doctor. Take the medication he has given and besides that, the doctor advised that I don't have to give Elizabeth anything to eat at least for half a day. Your child will be ok as long as there's water. Give your child 2 tablespoons of warm water every 10 minutes to prevent from dehydration and replenish lost fluids from the body. Elizabeth had it very bad that she even vomited out that 2 tablespoons of warm water a few seconds or minutes after I fed her. But I still have to continue giving her. Then after half a day if your child has stopped vomiting, you can start giving him/her plain porridge or soy-based or lactose-free milk. Once your child starts having diarrhoea that is actually good news because it means that the vomiting bouts are over and the diarrhoea helps to get rid of the virus in the body.

With that said, I hope none of this happen to your child but just hope that what I share could be of use if it should happen. Sharing is caring they say.

Some random pictures to end the post. Have a nice day!

My lil' dahlings watching television and sitting so close together at the corner of the sofa.

My hubby was teaching Elizabeth to count coins but Joseph arranging the coins instead.

Elizabeth learning to count the coins.