I had a dream….

It’s been a long time since I had a dream and a weird one to boot!

As may know, my little boy is enrolled in Shichida Method, a school that focuses on right brain development. In my dream, he’s at class and they were doing one activity. His Sensei whispered to him while touching his forehead and let him glimpse into a paper for a second (somewhat like a CV from what I saw). After that, his Sensei gave him a microphone.

My little boy took the mic, smiled cheekily a bit then said in perfect Mandarin and perfect sentence the following :

“Ta jia how, wo de ming zhe shi Chen Kang Wen” {sorry ah, I’m not a Mandarin speaking person, thus this is my best own translation :p}

Anyway, the english version if you really think I’m talking nuts up there :

“Good day everyone, my name is Chin Kang Wen”.

Now, we seldom speak Mandarin to him although I’ve been up my hubby’s back numerous times to talk to him in Mandarin and we also seldom call him by his chinese name.

So back to the dream, after hearing this I was really in awe *mouth gaping!!* and proud hehehe… Let’s hope this dream becomes a reality (he can minus the mic!)

Corncobs

Bought the above corncobs from Taman Tun Dr. Ismail market for our weekend get-a-way to Sg. Klah Hot Springs Resort. It costs me RM35 for 10 corncobs!!! So expensive!! However, it was worth every ringgit as the corn is really sweet and crunchy. Just look at the kernels, it has a nice colour

And while I was busy cleaning the corncobs, my little boy was busy at the fridge re-arranging fridge magnets. He showed me his ‘art’ and I just couldn’t resist taking a picture of it! Nice work don’t you think so? (just that the head engine got queued at the back and in replace was a car!! hehehe..)

Countdown to Christmas….

This is the 2nd year we place a Christmas Tree in our home. Bought it last year when Cavan was a year old so that he could see the beautiful lights

Sad to say Ikea’s Christmas Tree leaves are falling off as I drag the tree and bend the branches!! I would think give it a few more years and the poor tree would be bare!! hehehe…

Some pictures of our simple decorated tree with the assistance of my cheeky elf :p

~ my helpful cheeky elf hard at work ~

~ all lighted up!! ~

Slow Talker

Cavan is now starting to ‘talk’ more, mumbling out more words that I did not even know he knows!! ie. have not heard him mumble, babble anything similar sounding before…

I asked him one night where is his money (his dad gave him RM1 to keep in his pocket as he likes to imitate daddy paying for food). Not expecting any ‘real’ answer, I was caught off-guard when he replied me “bag-bag”. I repeated my question 6 times, and each time he replied the same “bag-bag” with a sly smile!! Tested him the next day and voila!! same answer

When we are at the Chinese Medical Shop and he saw a few balls hanging, he will get my attention, pointing at the ball and say “ball”. He also called my mother “Poh-Poh” when my mum threaten him to call when he wanted my mum to open the refrigerator door for him.

He’s also imitates my niece who calls me in hokkien “kok-kok” (meaning aunt). The latest I heard is Cavan say “key”. He actually requested the door “key” from my mum to open the door.

My sis-in-law told me before that for slow talker, their pronounciation is more accurate compared to those who talk earlier. I’m beginning to wonder the truth in this sentence as Cavan’s pronounciation is quite accurate.

First Words!!

Aarggghh…i’m losing count on when Cavan say this word and that word….

All I can remember is that when he’s 7 months old, he said “mum-mum” (ie. eat) and somewhere afer he turn 1 .5 years old, he uttered “egg”, “eat” and “cheese”. Geez all this are FOOD related LOL!!

Not able to keep track of his first words is the result of a working mummy. Knew he could say “egg” and “eat” is when his maternal grandpa tells me when I reach home and he happended to mumble those words.

Well at least for the word “cheese”, he said it for the first time in front of me, well actually he’s pointing to the cheese and said it coz he wanna eat it!!

Non-food related, he now knows how to call his maternal grandpa “kong-kong” (actually it sounds more like kang-kang hehehe)…. and for his daddy and mummy how does he calls us? a very rough ‘EEERRR-EEERRR’!!!

Does this sounds like daddy or mummy to you? *o*

The battle result

It’s been almost 2 weeks now since I started weaning Cavan off his pacifier.

Gosh this boy is stubborn, persistent, strong willed, bad temper, etc… So hard to get him weaned off his pacifier!!

Anyhow, the result is that he no longer has the urge to have his pacifier during the day. Only moments when he’s really very sleepy, we can see his has a strong urge. As our journey on this battle has not been easy for him and us (as in both parties DID NOT get sufficient sleep), we allowed him to have his pacifier for a short period of time before he falls asleep. We won’t want to have a sleep deprieved child developing this kind of way do we?

It seems to work quite well as he will only suck it for a very short period of time before he knocks off into dreamland. On some occasions when you ask it back from him, he will give it to you, turn around, hug his bolster and zzzz… away!! Win-Win situation for both parties, do you agree? ppsssttt…..next trick up my sleeve to wean him off completely during bed time is to put something bitter on his pacifier!!

Nowadays, we always tell him that he’s a big boy now and if he continues to suck his pacifier, he mouth will be ugly and very shame-shame. He understands as he will do the shame-shame sign and pout his mouth for you to see. I’ll end this post by showcasing the ever sexy pout pose by non other than Mr Chin junior….. hehehe…..

want a kiss anybody??

Battle continues…

Today is the 6th day of weaning Cavan off his pacifier.

You would think considering the comments I received from friends and family so far that it usually takes 2 nights of crying and the weaning process is completed. BUT alas this is not so the case for my boy. I could say that the peak period of weaning which is the first 3 nights is not so troublesome. It is the days after that we could see he’s very and I mean VERY persistent to get his pacifier back!

He will make a fuss ie. lau-kai (tantrum) whenever he wanna nap/sleep and especially so during the night including mid-night and wee hours of the morning!! He will just cry and cry non-stop, goodness he can go up to an hour!!!

We decided to heed my dad’s advise and to give him his pacifier whenever he wanna nap/sleep, only for this period to help him to sleep and get a good night sleep. Actually, I see him cry I also wanna cry for it is such a pity that he’s really sleepy and continue to fight us to get his pacifier. Add that on with our threats each night that if he continues to cry and smack us (with both his hands slapping us on our faces and kicking us when we carry him), we leave him, dump him into the dustbin, etc…does not work although whenever we mentioned that, he will cling to us tightly or run after us. This is not good mentally…yep I know, scold me but he’s just get on our nerve when he cries as you speak to him softly or roughly it does not work!!!

So we gave him this afternoon when we saw that he wanna sleep. SURPRISE SURPRISE, my boy really surprised me. He was happy to hold his pacifier. But he did not straight away put into his mouth and hold on to it as tho his life depended on it, which I thought he will do when we gave in to his demand.

Actually, I first gave him the ‘bitten’ pacifier. He took it, turn it around and told me in his way that this pacifier is bitten. I ignored and he did not make a fuss. He did not take his afternoon nap as we went shopping and when we reached home, he was not sleepy. However, when I was playing with him, he tried his pacifier (given him the good pacifier upon reaching home). Took 2 sucks and he took it out. He also ’sign’ shame-shame to me and laugh telling me it’s shame to suck pacifier!!

Jump to night time. Bed time. Gave him his milk and as previous, gave him his pacifier to hold. He drank his milk and previously after milk he will pop his pacifier into his mouth, but this time no, he just held it. He rolled around in his bed babbling away and finally slept WITHOUT, read me correctly WITHOUT the pacifier in his mouth!! My mum and I are so happy.

You would have think that I’m posting a 100% result in this post. Nope, am not doing that. Am waiting for tomorrow morning to see during the middle of the night if he make any fuss. One point that both my mum and I noted is that he wants his pacifier but once he got it and pop into his mouth, he does not get the satisfaction he previously had thus he’s just happy to hold it.

We don’t mind you holding on to it just don’t pop it into your mouth Cavan!!

Battle, Mousey and Mr Truck saga continues.. – Day 3

Nothing much to post in regards to Day 3.

Cavan do not look for his “chut-chut” when he’s playing. He only ask for it whenever he wants to nap/sleep. He’s quite persistent even though today is the 3rd day, he still remembers his “chut-chut”. He also knows that finding his “chut-chut” at the usual places is useless as it’s not there.

I’m now just waiting for the day when I can put up a post that bear the results and I mean a 100% result!! For now, I’ll rate it as 85%. Just a little bit more and we’re done with this weaning thingy….

Battle and Mousey Hunt – Day 2

The battle continues.

Day 2 night is worse than the first night. I guess the first night my boy gets to see and hold on to his “chut-chut” whereas second night he got nothing at all.

I made him a mousey (as promised earlier that I would find the mousey for him). Reached home and attached his bitten “chut-chut” to the mousey’s tail. Told him that mousey said he’s sorry for being so bad that he bite off both his “chut-chut” and that in compensation, will accompany him nightly during bedtime. Asked Cavan to throw away his “chut-chut” since it’s useless now. Surprisingly, Cavan took the “chut-chut” and threw it into the dustbin and said bye-bye!! You would have guess that it finally dawn on Cavan to give up hor?

the mousey made for Cavan

Wah, trouble begins when he it’s time for bedtime. He’s whining and pinning for his “chut-chut”. It took me more than an hour to calm him down and get him to bed!! Had to kept reminding him that he threw his own “chut-chut”. With this let me introduce Mr Garbage Truck!!

Mr Garbage Truck’s role here is to let Cavan know that he has thrown away his “chut-chut” and Mr Truck has taken it away. So again, me and my boy in the early morning at 3am stood by the window again looking for Mr Garbage Truck in the hope to tell Mr Truck to come-by in the morning for us find his “chut-chut”.

All is not too bad in the morning. Noticed that he does not ask for his “chut-chut” when he has ‘nothing else to do’. He kept himself pretty busy playing his toys and looking for food in my kitchen cabinet and fridge!! hahaha….

The only hard to kick issue now is when he wants to nap/sleep, when he wakes up in the middle of his nap/sleep and upon waking up. He will ask for his “chut-chut”. To also note that his memory is good coz he remembers what the mousey did and also Mr Garbage Truck. Can see that little Cavan is not giving up also in search of his missing “chut-chut”!!

We shall now see the result of his 3rd night….

ppsstt…… to fold one mousey for your little one, you can refer here http://www.britishorigami.info/academic/thok/hankymouse.html

The BATTLE and the MOUSEY hunt…

What a title huh…you must be wondering what this is all about.

Let’s start. I decided to wean my son off his pacifier or better known as “chut-chut” to him. Let me tell you that this is my 2nd attempt. The 1st attempt failed terribly!! Both my hubby and myself gave in to his whimpering, whining and the ooh-soo terrible addicted cry of not having his “chut-chut” plugged into his mouth!! This boy just refused to sleep without his “chut-chut”. The result of the 1st attempt?? — he wants 2 “chut-chut” with him from then on, one plugged in his mouth, the other to be held by him without the cover!! What he do with the 2nd “chut-chut” in his hand? He will rub it, sweep it across his forehead, chin, nose or worse if you sleep beside him, he will do it on your face!!! Remarks from his maternal grandparents and my hubby : “See, you made it worse. Now he wants TWO!!!. Let him have his “chut-chut”, let him enjoy it!!” No one to encourage me on, I gave in. So TWO “chut-chut” for my boy.

Still not giving up on the idea of weaning him off the pacifier with or without support, I tried my luck yesterday night (Sept 17th). You see, my boy will only look for his “chut-chut” when he’s fidgety ie. nothing to occupy his attention and when he need to calm himself down from anger or frustration ie. crying or better know to us as “lau-kai” period.

So we were in the car after our dinner (different post on this with pics of the food) and he started to look for his “chut-chut”. He ’sign language’ to me that he wants it and taking advantage of the situation, I told him that I don’t have his “chut-chut” with me (earlier he was in his maternal grandpa’s car and he passed his “chut-chut” to his piu-cher to keep). Asked him where he put his “chut-chut”, that I don’t have it at all. Surprisingly at this point, he did not start searching my bag or his Barney bag as usually he does when I tell him that I don’t have it.

Gently reminded him that he gave it to his piu-cher and basically mummy (which is ME!!) forgot to take it from piu-cher and now piu-cher has gone back home on a different car. Straightaway he pointed to the car behind us (my dad’s aka his maternal grandpa’s car). Told him, it’s not with his maternal grandparents, piu-cher went home in another car.

He just kept quiet and we proceeded home without much fuss. This looks like a good beginning. And all the way home, my hubby just kept quiet. I know him, he just gave up on me trying to wean our son off the pacifier.

Reached home, changed and time for bed time. This is where the BATTLE begins….

After finishing his milk, he wants his “chut-chut” to sleep and when I could not produce one for him; the whinning, whimpering, crying started no matter how sleepy he is. Carried him and we went around the whole house in search of his “chut-chut” with him pointing me here and there to search at the usual places and me repeating again and again that his “chut-chut” is with his piu-cher, we forgot to take it from her.

I believe it took almost 45 mins before he finally went to bed. I was really in the midst of giving in when I remembered I read somewhere before, that one technique is to cut off the tip of the pacifier as it won’t feel good when they suck and eventually will give up. So I told my son I try to find his “chut-chut” but he must not cry. He kept quiet, laid his head on my shoulder and let me wonder around the house looking. I took one of his old pacifier and nib the tip off!!…. and before I could gave it to him and say “Look, found an old one”, realised that he dozed off on my shoulder. To the bed he goes…. and some forty-winks for me before the next round (yeah, I anticipated it will go on the whole night!!)

An hour pass and he woke up looking for his “chut-chut” (can see his hands feeling around the bed at the usual spot I place his pacifier). Carried him and again told him the same repeated words “not here, we forgot…”. Can’t seem to calm him down, I gave him the nibbed pacifier. He put in his mouth and before I could blink my eye, it was out of his mouth hahaha!!!…. Boy, was he angry. To save my niece, his piu-cher from trouble the next morning, I asked him why, what’s wrong with your “chut-chut”? Why you don’t put in your mouth? My boy in his sleepy state, showed my his nibbed “chut-chut”. That’s when I said to him ‘Oohhh, what happened?…. must be the mousey that bite your “chut-chut”. MOUSEY hunt starts here….

Upon hearing this, he’s wide awake. Eyes all round and does not look sleepy at all!!… I played along my story and said, must be the mousey that bite your “chut-chut” and took all your “chut-chut” away… Bad mousey. We must catch mousey and scold him for being so naughty!! He agreed and started to laugh (yes laugh!! upon hearing that mousey took all his pacifier away!!) while making all sorts of action of catching and beating the mouse.

Cut the story short, this went on the whole night ie. managed to get him to sleep without the “chut-chut” with the story of the bad mousey and his mummy (poor me!!) searching for the bad mousey the whole night while he sleeps!!

Morning dawn – 6.30am. I woke up and quickly find another old “chut-chut” and nibbed it off. He woke up soon after, again crying. The story of bad mousey continues but this time, mummy found another “chut-chut” left behind by mousey while he was a good boy, not crying but sleeping.

My boy took it and again felt frustrated that this 2nd “chut-chut” was bitten by bad mousey!! Told him to sleep while mummy goes on mousey hunt again and that mummy will get him a new one later. Surprisingly, he agreed. Holding on to the two bitten “chut-chut”, he fell asleep.

Now, wouldn’t you agree with me that so far the progress is good?

My mum arrived at 7.15am with my niece. Told them the story and made them promise to play along with me. Sort of ‘warned’ them not to give in this time especially my dad when he starts to whimper, whin and cry for this “chut-chut” when they bring him back to my parent’s house later. Need to presevere during this period as I’m positive he’ll be weaned off his pacifier by end of the week!! (so far I heard from my cousin and friends, their kids took 2 days to wean off. I’m giving my boy 3 days as he’s rather persistent)

And yes dear hubby, I heard your comment during his crying that I could make it worse and if I lose this battle this round, our dear boy may request for not two but THREE “chut-chut” this time!!

So here goes, the BATTLE has begun and I do hope that this time I’m the winner!! More updates and progress of my battle in the following days…