The title says it. Most of my photos are now posted on facebook with captions which makes things easier so I think i'll give up on posting photos here until i feel like it.
Meanwhile...
There's not much going on just that we've been going out, doing our usual walks and play downstairs etc. I'm not planning to send her to any playgroup since she's still quite young and I've read more bad than good about early schooling. So while the very common question i get from friends and strangers are whether she's attending school, I do say that maybe when she's older. So home life is quite good enough, and we meet up another family for playtime on alternate weeks.
The other option is exploring homeschooling but with me working (even if it's 4 days a week), my home time with her is very limited. And while it's wonderful that my in-laws stay with us and help us take care of Eliza, sometimes i would like to experience a bit of hmm..challenge (?) like handling the home/cooking on my own. I'm not complaining and I really love that she enjoys the company of my mil, fil, sil + bf, cousins. My in-laws love her to bits...so it's nice to see her so showered with love. I'm quite pampered with the minimal amount of cooking & housework in need to do really.
Talking...
Eliza's talking a lot a lot more these days, and while not everything is that most accurate and understandable, it's loads easier to communicate with her, except when her calmness breaks down into a whiny tantrum. She speaks some Chinese too and 75% accurate cos some words sound quite English which is quite cute. We've been 'practicing' saying 晚安 for weeks at least and nowadays she can say it more accurately. Previously, it was wan1an3. She picks up some sentences too, like "阿妈戴眼镜".
Her hokkien can't be any better and the "ai" (yes) & "mai" (no) is so stuck she uses it for all her yeses and no-s. Many times we will overhear her talk to herself, " ai mai? ai" It's hard to undo it when it's still quite a common word heard around the house, esp when my in-laws talk. I've heard other words like "mai cha" (don't disturb) & "mai jia" (don't want to eat) from her before. Amazing!
Singing....
This is the age they LOVE to sing. At least Eliza does. She'll break into her No.1 hit song "ABC song" anytime. Her top 15 hits in no particular order (except for the abc song), cos it really depends on her moods.
1. ABC
2. Jingle bells (or sung "Jingle bars jingle bars" it has sounded much better closer to the word nowadays)
3. 恭喜 song
4. This little light of mine
5. Twinkle twinkle little star
6. Tinkle tinkle little pee
7. Round and round the garden
8. A-choo song
9. Ah-ma song (self composed...the words go "ahma ahma ahma ahma" in her own tune)
10. Ring-a-ring-a-roses
11. With Christ in the Vessel (i use it for going home..."driving driving home" or "walking walking home")
12. He's the Lord of the Sunshine (the part with "Pain" used to send her nuts giggling cos i'll sign it and look really pitiful)
13. Jesus Loves me (amazing how she caught it so fast cos i've been singing it to her since day1)
14. Colours of the Rainbow (baby signing time song...and the only one i can remember)
15. Row row row your boat
Other than these and those i can't remember, she'll generally hum some tune and follow the last words of the song. She remembers some of the words of the lullaby music that i always play for bedtime. Repetition is key, huh? But interesting how for some things, i need only to do it once and she gets it or remembers it.
She doesn't really sign nowadays but when i do sign some things like "sleep" cos i don't want to talk when it's time for her to zzz, she definately understands. She also knows that the animal skunk / owl / fox / badger / eagle etc are animals that she learnt from her BSL.
Guess you really can't measure how much your child knows isn't it? It's all hidden treasures, only known to them & God. It's up to us to open the doors of enjoying and knowing these things that they learn.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Potty progress
It has been almost 3 weeks since we have started potty training.
There's so many stages to go but we'll take it step by step. Anyway she's fully potty trained on home ground (obviously minus the sleep times...kids this age still pee in the sleep..i wonder why). Just that she'll run to the potty and give some indication that she needs to pee. I'm in the process of getting her to learn to say it. She'll only pull down her panties/pants when we tell her to tho 50% of the time we do it for her...somehow depending on what she wears her panties/pants always gets stuck at her bottoms cos she only pulls by the front of the panties/pants.
I'm trying to teach her to wipe dry after she pees but the toilet paper is too far and i always forget until she has finished her pee. By the time i go get it, she would have jumped up and done something to her pee or scrutinize it. I think it's also time to put it nearer to the toilet or in it. So far she has poured pee on herself, stepped into her potty with pee and on more helpful times, helped to pour the pee away into the toilet bowl. Nowadays, she'll sit on the potty base while i go clear the pee and wash the potty part, and i'll usually say 'excuse me' to ask her to move away. I didn't know it was her 'magic' word to get out of the potty base cos my mil told me that Eliza didn't want to stand up and told her to say 'excuse me' to her before she would budge.
Training part was mostly done by my mil though cos somehow i don't have enough home time with her and when i do, she doesn't want to sit on her potty. My mil's the better person at coaxing and distracting her till progressively she was able to sit on it for as long as 1/2hour...or at least till she pees. Ok sometimes it's giving her something to do while we wait for her to pee...like playing some music.
That was the ardous beginning stage...getting her to get used to peeing in the potty. Of course, sometimes while trying to get the right feeling to make a poo, it helps to do some reading or watching tv...
So far so good, there has been no accidents this week at home. And she can hold her pee for a good 2hrs...though it also depends on how much water she drinks.
Oh but it's the going out that's more challenging. We have gone diaperless at my mum's place but that was still the early stage and i have had the potty there yet. So i had to hold her while she sits on the toilet bowl and wait for a pee. Somehow i think i asked her too often and she kept saying she didn't need to pee but after that wet her pants. Another time she was playing to crazily with daddy that she forgot she needed to pee and it was too late by the time she reached the toilet bowl. We tried her going diaperless for a playdate and so far so good..she did pee in the potty there. I also tried for her going diaperless during by short outings to the library with her, though she was too nervous with the noisy flushing in the public toilets to want to pee...so i think she held back till we got home.
She's still on diapers for long trips out so the next stage is to overcome the fear (both me & her!) of her peeing in the public toilets. I can't be bringing the potty everywhere i go! Yeah i should try it on sundays when we go church this week!
There's so many stages to go but we'll take it step by step. Anyway she's fully potty trained on home ground (obviously minus the sleep times...kids this age still pee in the sleep..i wonder why). Just that she'll run to the potty and give some indication that she needs to pee. I'm in the process of getting her to learn to say it. She'll only pull down her panties/pants when we tell her to tho 50% of the time we do it for her...somehow depending on what she wears her panties/pants always gets stuck at her bottoms cos she only pulls by the front of the panties/pants.
I'm trying to teach her to wipe dry after she pees but the toilet paper is too far and i always forget until she has finished her pee. By the time i go get it, she would have jumped up and done something to her pee or scrutinize it. I think it's also time to put it nearer to the toilet or in it. So far she has poured pee on herself, stepped into her potty with pee and on more helpful times, helped to pour the pee away into the toilet bowl. Nowadays, she'll sit on the potty base while i go clear the pee and wash the potty part, and i'll usually say 'excuse me' to ask her to move away. I didn't know it was her 'magic' word to get out of the potty base cos my mil told me that Eliza didn't want to stand up and told her to say 'excuse me' to her before she would budge.
Training part was mostly done by my mil though cos somehow i don't have enough home time with her and when i do, she doesn't want to sit on her potty. My mil's the better person at coaxing and distracting her till progressively she was able to sit on it for as long as 1/2hour...or at least till she pees. Ok sometimes it's giving her something to do while we wait for her to pee...like playing some music.
That was the ardous beginning stage...getting her to get used to peeing in the potty. Of course, sometimes while trying to get the right feeling to make a poo, it helps to do some reading or watching tv...
So far so good, there has been no accidents this week at home. And she can hold her pee for a good 2hrs...though it also depends on how much water she drinks.
Oh but it's the going out that's more challenging. We have gone diaperless at my mum's place but that was still the early stage and i have had the potty there yet. So i had to hold her while she sits on the toilet bowl and wait for a pee. Somehow i think i asked her too often and she kept saying she didn't need to pee but after that wet her pants. Another time she was playing to crazily with daddy that she forgot she needed to pee and it was too late by the time she reached the toilet bowl. We tried her going diaperless for a playdate and so far so good..she did pee in the potty there. I also tried for her going diaperless during by short outings to the library with her, though she was too nervous with the noisy flushing in the public toilets to want to pee...so i think she held back till we got home.
She's still on diapers for long trips out so the next stage is to overcome the fear (both me & her!) of her peeing in the public toilets. I can't be bringing the potty everywhere i go! Yeah i should try it on sundays when we go church this week!
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