Operation Pacifier Weaning

Here's our story: At birth, we used this pacifier from the AVENT starter set.

He was not into the pacifier at all. Only when he was falling asleep, then he would spit it out.

I thought, wow, lucky me...little did I know....

After 6 months, I bought these cool AVENT Glow-in-The-Dark ones. So that Grandma can find them easily in the middle of the night, just in case :)

That was the biggest mistake, ever. He thought that they were cool too. So much so that he became addicted to them. Argggghhh......

Then, at 2 years old, still addicted, he developed the gnawing and biting habit. After he destroyed both of them, I bought him not so cool ones, hoping that he will, you know, fall out of love. He destroyed Mr Brown Cat in one day. 

So, I warned him "Mr Lamb is your LAST (I really emphasized LAST). If you bite through this one, I am not going to buy anymore"

He got the message LOUD & CLEAR and was very careful with it. Unfortunately, after 6 months of repeated sterilization and biting, the plastic part cracked a little. The nipple remained intact. So, he continued using it until the fateful date, 02-02-2013. He dropped and broke a part of poor Mr Lamb.

Mama: GASP! OH, Oh, Oh no.....

Tiger: Break oh...(horror written all over his face)

Mama: He he 

(I was horrified too but I laughed too..terrible, I know)

Tiger: His eyes started to swell, tears brimming....

Mama: (opportunistic ME sprang into action)

Nevermind lar, Lil J also never use already...say bye bye to "cuit-cuit"

You are a big boy already.

Tiger: Can use

Mama: Cannot

Tiger: Okay

Mama: Huh? So easy? Cannot be?

We walked to the dustbin in the kitchen together.

He held his pacifier in his hands while I held the dustbin cover for him.

Mama: Okay, throw. You can do it.

Tiger stared at his Mr Lamb for what felt like an hour and then he handed it to me,

" Mama, you throw"

OMG, drama king.....haha.....he couldn't do it.

 "You can"

He stared at Mr Lamb again, as if saying Good Bye.

Then, he looked at me and say, "I no can. Mama throw"

"We throw together?"

Nods head.

When he finally let go, there was so much of sadness in his eyes...

I almost wanted to run to the baby store to get him another one.

He asked for it at night and could not go to sleep..poor thing

Grandma finally cracked after a measly ONE day.

Pffftttt, weak.

:p

I would probably crack too if I was to listen to him whine all day long.

Next time, bring me the wasabi!!!!

So, now he is using the white one with FLOWERS detail (top left)

On loan from Lil Dragon (who hates it)

Bwahahaha.

Yeah, I gave him a hard time for the flowers.

So now, in public, he covers it with his pillow/hanky/bolster.

Aaahhh, my lil man....

Ashamed but addicted.

Years later, his therapist will blame me for giving him a flowery pacifier.

Parenting: Confessions

This is really a guilt-ridden post disguised as a parenting one.

 Confession #1:

Firstly, let me remind you that Tiger is a cheeky fellow.

He has a habit of making fun of himself.

Most of the time he is hilarious, sometimes, not so funny.

For example, when we are supposed to be focused for our right brain practise.

He will suddenly find the world map verrry interesting.

Or he will used the icons as paper dolls and walk them around.

With a forced loving tone, "Come on...do fast faaaast"

 Bored look...then...hyena-like laugh

I have been sleep-deprived this week than that meant a shorter fuse. As a result,

"BANG!!!!!!"

I slammed my hand on the table and startled poor Tiger.

He immediately burst into tears and ran over for a hug, like I was in distress...

Feeling defeated and tired, I asked slowly, 

"Your choice, study or you want to go downstairs?"

He sobbed, "Sorry mama. I want study"

@.@

He actually completed his photomemory questions (5 items)

and mandala with perfection.

I feel really bad for expecting so much out of my 2 year old but at the same time

I know he is capable of so much more.

I really need to get a grip.

Here's Tiger, caught mid-hyena-laugh by papa.

 <<<  >>>

One afternoon, hubs called, "Hey, baby...bla bla bla"

"Do you know that whenever you say Hey Baby...

It usually means that you are going to drink with your friends." I complained

Hubby, pretending to be innocent, asked,  "Got meh?"

"Whatever lar...You are calling to inform me only.  Doesn't matter"

Ignoring the sarcasm in my voice, "Bye!"

Here's the thing.

Remember the overpriced, tiny slide/jungle-gym that hubs bought after a drinking session?

No?

Here's a reminder

Guess what?

He did the same thing...haha...cheapskate...I wanted diamonds...cheh..

Grandma said, "Oh...scared that your wife will scold, buy toys to compensate?"

Hubby pretended to be deaf.

Tiger pretended it was Christmas, again

In the box....a stand up microphone.

He sang two songs on repeat, like a broken player.

Hey sexy bey-beh, op op op, Oppa Gang-Man Style (his words, not mine)

repeat 100x

Chicka chicka Boom Boom

repeat 100x

After hubs complained that he only knew 2 songs, he started showing off,

singing Do-Re-Mi, Twinkle twinkle little star, ABC, phonic songs....

Kiasu betul....

Luckily hubby remembered that he has a daughter too...

Confession #2

I should pretend to be irritated more and let hubby buy the toys.

Parenting: A Reflection

Mondays are always crazy for me.

Is it me or the rest of the human population find it

 most difficult to get out of bed on Monday mornings?

Work was as always, busiest on Mondays.

Then, hubby's accountant called, "Hey, your document is not complete ah. I email the list"

"Audit due end of the month ah. Urgent okay?"

Nod head.

"okay "

The dreaded list. Happens every year.

Time to hunt for missing pieces of invoice, receipts,etc

Sigh...

Called banner people to tweak design. "Must be up by this weekend, okay?"

Banner man: "Okay email asap"

So, I asap-ed.

*Ping*

Tweaked banner says Chrismas promotion

*faint*

Asap-ed the guy again: Errr, you mis-spelt CHRISTMAS!!! 

NO reply

@__@""

Sigh again....

When you really need the phone,she (yes, a she) rebels

by catching some crazy virus OR the touch screen is having a bitchy fit.

*No energy to sigh*

 

I could hear the KWSP and SOCSO forms mocking me.

 

All this while MSN-ing with Lil J's mommy about Christmas party

&

Pinterest-ing Christmas craft for Tiger.

When I die, I demand for 'Multitasker' on my stone.

At the very least, I think I deserve a raise from hubby, no?

He is paying me peanuts, like peanuts, I tell you...pffftt

Then, while driving home, I started planning:

Do I cancel class today?

Guess what I did?

I took Tiger to the park

^.^

After that, we painted and showered together.

Later, we had our class as usual with Lil J joining us.

I came to realise that I always feel better after a class with Tiger.

Which is also the reason why we are still going strong after almost 2 years.

The fact that Tiger is enjoying the learning process and our special time together

is chicken soup to my soul :)

Yes, it is nice to have enough money

but

Nothing, I mean NOTHING is more important than my children.

So, that meant more work for mama till late but that's okay.

Writing this blog is another creative outlet for me, so this is not considered work.

If you are still reading this by now, I sincerely THANK YOU!

Review: Leapfrog Learning DVDs

We are HUGE fans of Leapfrog toys. 

Initially I listed out the Leapfrog toys that we have but it made me look like such a shopaholic. Let's just say we have a few and we love each and everyone of them.

Anyway, the important issue is the fact that the one Leapfrog product that I really wanted to get my hands on was the Learning DVD set. They have been raved to death by parents everywhere, including those from kiasuparents.com. If the Singaporeans claim it's good, you better believe them!

We have Let's Go To School, Numbers Ahoy and Math Adventure to the Moon from ToyRus but  the box set has eluded me for the longest time until I thought of a member of the family. She graciously loaned it to us and it's high time I return them since Tiger is totally in love with them. Grandma is not helping by giving him a free rein over his TV time.

They are pricey if we poor under-developed, third world country people are to buy from Amazon or Singapore. During our last excursion to Popular in Ikano, I saw some Scout and friends series (Phonics Farm & Number Land) and  as well as the ones I have listed above.

It is really worth the splurge for the box set?

For Tiger, these are the only 'cartoons' that he watches. So, my alphabet junkie definitely enjoyed getting his daily dose of alphabet-high. Despite the fact that he is already well versed with his phonics, he is addicted to the Letter Factory. From all the testimonials of blogger moms, this definitely seemed like one of the better phonics DVD set.

Of course, I would rather he obsess over the frogs and phonics compared to Oppa Gangnam Style, no?

Speaking of DVDs, I am awaiting the arrival of my Shichida DVD. Will post more info once I get my hands on it.

Do you have a well loved educational DVD to share? Do give me your feedback if you have tried Hooked on Phonics or the Scholastic Series. Thanks!

Little Tiger a.k.a. The Abandoned Child

Poor, poor Tiger.... my abandoned boy.

With the new baby taking up all of my spare time and energy,

I simply had no time to plan Tot School.

He asked for school all the time but after 5 minutes of trying to do some work,

 the baby would start crying or whining.

During my confinement, he spent a lot of time on the Ipad.

Mostly playing with games like matching memory, etc.

Surprisingly, he wasn't keen on Disney channel ...hehe..

I did plan ahead by moving one of his shelves into my room

Here are some of the stuff we did:

Some line tracing, colouring, and mandalas

We tried to keep up with our right brain practise.

Ermm, not very consistently, I'm afraid.

These are his mommy-made photographic memory games

Physical activities:

He rolled the floor mat and monkeyed around

Stacking his Brainstorm blocks.

We did a lot of puzzles

My little multitasker:

Babysitting little sis and playing with his Ipad simultaneously ^.^

The boss...well, he kinda has been demoted by his lil sis..

He is more like the boss's assistant now.

From week 4 onwards, Tiger tagged along with hubby and I whenever we went out.

That includes going to Daddy's work place. Not a good idea!

I tried to spend some one-on-one time with him which usually meant walks,

ice cream or going to the bookstore.

Nothing that requires a lot of mental/physical work.

This post is my pledge to be a better mom to Tiger soon.

People kept saying that it will get easier..I shall have faith and be patient.

Dilemma: Screen Time

Little Tiger is a Youtube and Ipad (also for Youtube) addict.

*Sigh*

Since we do not subscribe to cartoon channels on Astro, he has yet to know Barney or Mickey. So, Youtube is fascinating to him. He does watch Astro's educational mandarin kid's channel Xiao Tai Yang occasionally.

It is so my fault for introducing him to this media of edu-tainment.

It started with the Dinosaur Song which now snowballed to a selection of about 50 songs. At least it ain't porn..yet. @.@

In order to get over my Mommy guilt, we try to learn during the 'singing'.

Here's what we have been doing so far:

1. Props.

We started with the miniature dinos for his Dinosaur Sensory Bin.

Then the laminated shapes for the Shapes & Colours Bin.

Currently, the 'It' props are the  felt planets I handmade. DAILY USAGE ^.^ with the Solar System song.

This, by the way, is his singing face

2. Musical instruments

Like these mini shakers and tambourine that he associated with the Jolly phonics song.



3. Puzzle pieces to dance to alphabet/number songs.

4. Books: Like the Chicka Chicka Boom Boom book. Mommy love the song too!

5. Dancing and movement. Currently he favours the Kinderbeat tracks. Always a great workout.

  <<<>>>

Sometimes, I am in a bit of a fix over speed flashing as recommended by Schicida.

If you flash that fast, wouldn't the words look blurry and pictures look like a cartoon snippet?

That was how they made cartoon, right?

It is recommended that children less than three should not have any screen time.

It is a known fact that the American Academy of Peadiatrics recommended no screen time before 2.

If the increasing trend of ADHD a result of this?

*gasps*

Tiger was never really a TV person, I was.

Until he came along and took up every bit of my spare time.

Not that I am complaining :)

I did buy some baby DVDs like Brainy Baby and YBCR but he HATED them.

Guess he was smarter than me ^.^

Still, I am assuming that Tiger gets about an hour of screen per day.

Since MIL is his primary caregiver, I have zero control before I come home from work.

Once, I tried to approach the issue as tactfully as possible, like this:

translated from Mandarin

<<< >>>

Mommy: Hey, what did you do today? Did you watch a lot of TV?

Speaking directly to Tiger but within MIL's earshot :p

MIL: Where got?  I just on only lar.

I think she gave me a look

Mommy: Does he watch TV in the afternoon?

Feeling like the bad cop in a cheap grade B movie

MIL: No lar, where got time? Only during meals. Otherwise he runs everywhere.

Looking more irritated?? Or did I imagined it?

Mommy: Oh.

Tells self to shut the f*** up

<<< >>>

Since I couldn't remove the TV without looking like a total b***h to MIL, I did the next best thing. I took up half the living space for Tiger's learning stuff and books to entice him into doing puzzles, reading, etc.

It is still impossible to eliminate the background television but I guess you can't have it all, huh?

In Bright From the Start, Jill Stamm recommended programmes like Mister Rogers and similiar slow, calming formats. So sleep inducing and slow!

What is your take on the screen time and technology dilemma?