New Post...finally!

I am sooo backlogged on the blog front. Was thinking of writing back dating posts but then realised I honestly can't be bothered. So I'll just pick up from whatever I can remember.

Sometime in the end of October, I had a terrible gastric attack which lasted more than a week and intensified after several days. This got me landed in the A&E department, convinced that I have stomache cancer or stomache ulcer...But the doctor (2 doctors actually) insisted I was just having a bad gastric attack. So that accounted for a period of my disappearance.

Then the hubby and I decided on an impromptu trip to BKK, sans Keston. My mum graciously agreed to take care of Keston while we went on a very short trip. I didn't want to take Keston along cos on the last 2 trips we were there, I didn't get to eat all my favourite foods at my favourite haunts due to being constrained by his diet, his schedule, his naps. It was v frustrating, so this time, no Keston! We had a great time! Haha

And then when we got back, we had to complete registration for the new Kindergarten. We went when Keston was in playgroup so he still hasn't gotten to see his new Kindergarten, nor did he get measured up for his new uniform. We figured since he's quite average in size, he should probably be getting the M sized uniform. But it's HUGE. Ah well, he'll grow into it. Just this morning, HW was trying to get him to try it on and he was chasing K around with "Do you like your new Uniform?" And K was running away going "No No No No NO". So nope, he hasn't tried on his new uniform.

Last week marked the end of his schooling stint with Baby Jumper Gym. We had the PTC on Friday and while waiting for our turn, K was roughing it out in the gym. Good gracious, we (parents) haven't been into the gym in ages-- ever since we stopped the weekend classes abt a year ago. And how the boy has progressed! He used to be afraid of this long tunnel thingy and refused to get in. Now, he was scampering up and down the 2 ends non-stop. He used to need to be carried up to the top of the slide, but now he can get up both ways (rock climbing & ladder) by himself.





Teacher's remarks-wise, he has improved upon last term. He's picking up on his speech and following instructions. His 'best friend' is still Esther. We definitely need to start speaking to him more in Mandarin cos his review from Lao Shi is pretty much stagnant from the beginning. Lol. He has no interest in colouring and would just scribble across the page when asked to colour an object. He is quite good in puzzles and is fixing puzzles beyond his age. Also he likes reading books and would often ask the teacher to read to him.

Another interesting thing to note, the teachers said he's quite quiet in school so there's hardly any need for them to discipline him. Usually when we pick him up from school, he's the only one who dashes round and round the vicinity outside the centre and laughs boisterously. The teachers said he doesn't act like that in school at all and that it's a totally new side of him. I guess that just affirms his shy nature.

Oh btw, he's taking part in his school's photo contest.
Do lend him your support by voting for him here: http://www.facebook.com/#!/photo.php?fbid=165561053476277&set=a.162833730415676.34844.105312932834423

'Like' Baby Jumper Gym International.....and then 'Like' Keston's photo.

Thank you!


I'm glad we put him in this playgroup as he seems to like it there. He actually refuses to wear other tees in the morning, always insisting on "School Shirt". I think we're gonna have a tough time starting the new school next year...

家教

This evening, Keston woke up from his nap all flustered as my parents' maid was in my house. He's normally quite friendly with her, but he gets pretty disoriented when he wakes up and doesn't quite like anything out of the norm. So he was crying away and I had to calm him down by asking him if he wanna go Gai gai. I'd actually thought of bringing him to BPP to shop/walk. But cos he woke up so late-- nearly 6pm, I thought we'd just roam around downstairs.

Who knows, he kept pulling me towards the guard house aka main entrance and saying "Kai Kai". I had no idea he knew gai gai means to go OUT!! We seldom use the word gai gai, especially not when we were really going out. Anyway, to distract him...I thought I'd detract him to the playground. He had a blast at the playground, although he's still not willing to play with other kids especially those around his age. There were 2 older kids (looked to be around p1 age)--a girl and a boy, hanging around and they were the only ones he didn't mind standing next to. Not on purpose lah, just that when he wants to play with something and they're standing nearby, he will still go. Whereas if there was another kid standing near the slide, he wouldn't go near at all.

The sky was turning dark and all the kids had left the playground, but Keston refused to go home. The squash court was nearby and he must have seen the aforementioned 2 kids going in with their beach ball...or maybe he heard the 'Pong Pong Pong' sound so he dragged me to the squash court. I glanced in and saw the 2 kids and another older boy throwing and kicking the beachball around the court. The door was closed, so I sat down on a bench at the side while Keston stood at the door (closed) watching them play, occasionally turning to me smiling and going "Kick ball", and then just watching intently.

Awhile later, I heard 1 of the kids saying "Why is that boy watching us?" I didn't take any notice as we were outside of the court and K was harmlessly doing nothing. A couple of seconds later, the girl came out and said loudly "Excuse me!" Thinking she was harmless, I replied nicely "Yes?" And her reply astounded me.
"Can you tell him (Keston) to stop disturbing us?"
And then she stomped back into the court before I could say anything.

Keston was clueless and did not know what happened, but continued smilingly watching the ball bounce around. I was stunned. Firstly, Keston did not do a single thing to them. He did not even make a sound. How had he disturbed them? Secondly, I could not believe that a young child will talk to an adult like that!

While these thoughts were fleeting in my mind, the girl came out once more and repeated her command "CAN YOU STOP DISTURBING US?" I couldn't even believe that it had happened the first time, and it was happening a second time. Within the same minute! I was so mad, I think I said something like "EXCUSE ME? HOW IS HE DISTURBING YOU? WHAT IS HE DOING TO YOU? CAN YOU EXPLAIN TO ME HOW HE HAS DISTURBED YOU?"
She looked abit (just a tad bit) flustered and she staggered back muttering "Ok Ok Ok". Not an apologetic OK, but more like a oh-whatever OK.

I'm not even a confrontational person normally, but this incident got me so pissed off that you can actually see steam coming out of my ears. Only after I went home, then I realised I should have asked to speak to her mother or ask her what school she goes to...or I dunno, anything! What are kids becoming these days? Could it be true that parents are so caught up in the rat race that there is no such thing as 家教 anymore?

Kindergarten Confirmed

I know I'm cutting it abit fine for my 1 blogpost a week resolution. My last post was the beginning of last week and this comes at the end of this week :P I don't even have anything in particular to blog about!!!

Anyways, we have registered Keston for MCI Kindergarten. Hopefully it all goes well!

Pre-school search starts...

At the end of last term, we started discussing if we wanted to let K continue with BJG next year or to ease him into his future as-yet-unchosen kindergarten's N1 class. After a quick browse in the area and comparing pros and cons, we decided that K will continue with BJG for another year and go straight to N2 thereafter.

The pros of transferring to a kindergarten:
1. Much cheaper
2. Let him get used to a new environment earlier since he's gonna end up there anyway

Cons:
1. His nightmares will probably start again
2. Morning crying for at least a month
3. Shorter schooling hours
4. Odd schooling hours (by our standards)

As I'm quite insistent that K goes to a church kindy, we checked out the only 2 down the road--

1. Bt Panjang Methodist Church Kindy
Prior to visiting, I'd read good academic reviews from current/ex-students' parents....and because it's based in a methodist church, I'd more or less decided I WANT THIS. On site, the location was, well...quite dreary. Can't blame them as the church building is rather old. The decor is pretty dated and dark. HW hated it and was like No No No...so gloomy! But academic reviews are good! On the downside, you have to be toilet-trained before entering (which our dear friend isn't)...and you have to be 30months before starting school. Which means, K can only start in February. The fees are quite reasonable, being about half of what we're paying now. It's a 3hrs programme. With all that's said and done, it is FULL. We are like #30something on the waitlist.

2. St Joseph's Church Kindy
Now this place is HUGE and AIRY and looks really really nice! The playgrounds look fun and there's ample place to run around. I've also read pretty good reviews on this place, mainly about how nice and spacious it is. I must say I was pretty sold on the place. Plus, you don't have to be toilet trained and you don't have to be a full 30months to start! The morning session's full though, but there's space in the 2nd session, which is fine by me. The fees are about $200 more than the previous kindy (but still less than what we're currently paying). Then comes the negative part. The first, glaring thing that concerned me is that the school compound faces a graveyard!! Apparently there is a graveyard within the church...and it's smack like 50metres in front of the front facing of the kindergarten section. Kids are more err...in tune with their err...senses. So I'm not sure it's such a good idea. Then, the programme is a mere 2.5hrs. So after getting over the crying bit, there mightn't be that much time left for other stuff? Also, this school advocated playing over learning. I know this is a plus point for alot of parents..but I personally prefer more learning to take place in school.


As a parent, I take precedence in the academic value of a school. HW, on the other hand, was only concerned that the place looks nice & fun. So we were split on our views. I wanted Bt Panjang Methodist...and HW wanted St Jo. In the end, obviously my view counted more....and since Bt Panjang had no vacancies...we decided to enroll him in N2 the following year. We'd continue with BJG, or so we thought...

Yesterday after picking up K, teacher Stella asked us in for a chat. I was thinking "Uh Oh! Keston got into a fight!" She was so solemn that alarm bells were ringing in our heads. Then it turned out that the school will not be operating the playgroup anymore next year. So this will be our last term there. (And we just bought a new uniform!!!!)

And so begins our frantic search for K's new future school. There's a church near where the in-laws stay and recently we've noticed that they've also got a kindy within. It's pretty near our place...but I wasn't that keen cos it's really near the ils. Anyway, we decided to check it out today.
3. The Methodist Church Of The Incarnation (MCI) Kindy
Not so keen on the name either :P As there were some renovations going on, we took forever trying to find our way in...and then we walked round and round without managing to find the office. The place is quite big (not as spacious as St Jo) and there are ALOT of students. We found out their full capacity is 170 and they're nearing full cap. K doesn't need to be toilet trained. There is still a couple of vacancies for the morning session and also for the 2nd session. Plus points first, the church/kindy is undergoing renovations at the end of the year so everything will be spanking new when we start N1 next year. There will be proper classrooms for the N1 and N2 (right now, they are partitioned using little walls/shelves. Only the K1/K2 have proper classrooms). The bathrooms will be new. There will be a new outdoor playground. Basically, the keyword is NEW. The school will be fully air-conditioned with options to be non-airconditioned when there is an epidemic. They haven't had any closure due to HFMD as yet. The fees are abit more than what St Jo is charging but it is a 3 hours programme. Also, ALL except 1 of their teachers are locals.

For now, based on what's available and what we've seen...it seems that MCI kindy is the way to go. I'm still being stubborn, and hoping for more choices to drop our way. But if I procrastinate too long, I'm sure they won't have anymore vacancies already :P

Bad sleeping habbits

I've always envied mummies whose kids sleep before 10...9 even! K is a habitual late sleeper. I guess part of the problem is due to the fact that by the time we get home and bathe (myself and then him), it's already almost 10pm. He'll take his last milk feed on the bed and then roll around until he falls asleep. It used to be around 10.30pm up till a month+ ago.

Since a month or 2 ago, he started getting up to a whole heap of nonsense before sleeping. He'd insist that i turn on the light by pulling me to the light switch and going LIGHT LIGHT LIGHT, except he articulates as HEIGHT HEIGHT HEIGHT. And then he'd fumble at the door knob and 谢 谢 until I open the door to let him out. He'd then look for his Daddy and get him to bring in a toy, and then 2...and then 3! It was slightly ridiculous at first as he wouldn't stop playing until we all laid down on the bed with him. At that time he was sleeping after 12 midnight!

After awhile, he started 'stabilising' to 3 toys each night. It's always the same 3 toys. First, it will be a book....next, his doctor set...and lastly, his Hot Wheels set. We couldn't stop him from playing his toys...so we started limiting him to 5 minutes each toy and gradually to 1 minute. By then, he was just going through the motion of emptying the toys on the bed and then putting them back into the packaging/box!

But for the past few days, he's miraculously stopped asking me to turn on the light after his milk...and he's stopped asking to go out to get his toys. Although he's still sleeping at 11-12....it's a lot less tiring than having to keep getting up to open the door (because he insists on shutting the door everytime he goes in and out of the room).

I was very pleased with this improvement and rewarded him with a sticker for his sticker book. Last night, I made the mistake of showing him a new Thomas book we bought and he insisted on bringing into the room. But he didn't insist on turning on the light so he just fumbled around with it in the dark and gave it to me shortly. Again, I was pleased that he's become more 懂 事 ...but after 15mins of not falling asleep, he suddenly grabbed the book again and went LIGHT LIGHT LIGHT. Uh-oh!

Instead of turning on the light, I told him "Do you remember Mummy gave you a sticker today? Cos you were so good the last few nights, you went to sleep without all your nonsense....Do you still want to be a good boy? Do you still want a sticker tomorrow?" Surprisingly, he looked at me solemnly, handed over the book and laid down again!!

A blog post a week

I'm resolving to blog more.
A post a day would be pushing it...so I'm gonna aim for once a week instead. Let's see how long it lasts :P

Another school excursion

On the last week of every school term, K's school will have a school excursion. This term, they were going to the Zoo. As always, we eagerly signed him up. Teacher Stella asked if any of us would be accompanying K and we said No. Privately, we did discuss tailing them to make sure nothing went wrong.

This was when I realised that we had very different parenting attitudes. HW, on the outside, seems like a 'harder' parent. I probably come across as a doting mum. In actual fact, I am very laid back and HW is the more kan cheong one. When K kenna HFMD from infantcare, HW's immediate reaction was to withdraw him from infantcare. I was like "Huh? Must withdraw ah?" On this occasion, even though we both agreed not to tail them, HW will keep bringing up the issue every 5 mins "Sure we're not following?"...."What if he runs around and falls down?"...."So many kids, the teachers can handle or not?"....and so on...I would usually give an exasperated sigh and tell him everything will be fine....the teachers know what they're doing, blah blah.

And then when I was blog hopping, I found a mummy saying she did not allow her son (who was just short of turning 3) to go on an excursion because it was not parent-accompanied, citing "(name) is not even THREE!"

Oh dear, and there I am, rejecting a chance to accompany K on his excursion....and he's just turned TWO! Oh wait...I already let him go on a school excursion alone when he was just 22months!!! What must people think of me?

Baby Race

A while ago, HW and I were commenting about how Keston never walks, but runs everywhere...and how fast he is. Then HW said we should enter him in a baby race. A couple of days later, we spotted an ad on the newspaper for ExplorerKid's Fastest Baby & Junior race and signed Keston up.

The Contest was to be held on 21st August at D'Marquee at Downtown East. The organizing was kind of shabby since we were not informed of the time until a day before the event, and it was not possible to plan anything beforehand.

Anyways, we thought it would be a straightforward race in the sense that he's gonna be running from Daddy to Mummy or vice versa. And we'd discuss to who he should be running towards.(Mummy of course!)

The event was supposed to be from 2-5pm and we were told to register by 1.30pm. The boy usually naps around 1.30pm, so we thought he'd just have a short nap on the way there....and nap again after his race. Keston fell asleep about 15mins before we reached Downtown East. And we let him sleep up to 30mins before waking him up as it was 1.30pm already. Registered and was told his event was at 3.00pm!? WTF? Ask us to go so early for what? I guess they wanted everybody to be around, to create an atmosphere...but 1.5hrs of wasted time when he could be taking his beauty sleep??? Nevertheless, the kiddo set unleased was a happy camper. He had a good time running round the hall and climbing the barricades (after observing another kid doing the same). But by 2.30pm, he was bored as hell and wanted to get out of the place. We had to bribe him with banana and cookies to keep him around!

We were registered for Category D, as he'd just missed the cut-off for Category C (1.5-2yrs old) by about 2/3 days! Darn. He was one of the youngest in Cat D for sure. And then we were told that it wasn't a straight forward race. Firstly, only 1 parent is allowed at the end line. He is to stand at the starting point alone. Secondly, he had to run to a box in the middle of the lane to pick out a coloured ball from amongst white balls. And then run to the end line.

Uh-oh. Firstly, we weren't sure that he would be willing to stay at the start line alone. Secondly, balls are his weakness! Would he pick just 1? Would he pick the correct one? Would he just sit there and play with the balls?

Thankfully, the coloured ball was green. And it's one of the colours he knows. So he understood us perfectly when we told him to pick up the green ball. And also luckily the lane marshall was a young lady so he didn't mind standing with her. When the whistle blew, he was stunned for a moment (cos nobody mentioned to him that he was supposed to start running when the whistle blew haha). But then we screamed GO! And off he sped to the ball, picked up the correct ball and dashed to mummy~ ! He did very very well, even if I say so myself.

Watch 3:04 of RazorTV's capture

After the race, the RazorTV reporter wanted to interview us, but the boy sped off for another round! Haha...he doesn't know it's a one-off so he went off to the start line and ran down the middle, picked up the ball again.....................................*face palm*

Since another round of contestants were coming around, we had to grab him away, flailing arms and all. We left right after his race so we don't know if he would have won anything. From what we saw, he did seem like one of the fastest there...but in any case, he's a winner in our eyes. We were just so proud that he listened to instructions and completed the race.

Mummy!

Keston has FINALLY called Mummy....you cannot imagine my relief as he's been calling everyone else, everyone except me! And seeing as he's such a mummy's boy, it's been really odd!

But finally it's happened!

Happy 2nd Birthday

Yadda yadda yadda

So it's finally happened. The speech fairy has finally decided to pay K a visit. Ever since the last post, his golden mouth seems to have come unstuck and he's spurting out new words exponentially.

Although not quite up to standard with his peers who've started speaking much earlier, it's a huge improvement from just 1 month ago!

Vocab
1. Ball
2. Bird
3. Duck
4. Apple
5. Pear
6. Daddy
7. Por Por
8. Mama
9. Please
10. Cheese
11. Bread
12. Horse (Hor)
13. Car
14. Girl
15. Baby
16. Bye Bye
17. No No
18. Bear
19. Sheep (Baaah)
20. Egg
21. Up
22. Go
23. Book
24. Block
25. Eat
26. Home
27. Dog (used to be Ahh Ahh but changed to Dog, though he still alternates)
28. Cat
29. Cake
30. Star
31. Bubble (Babu)
32. Pig
33. mum mum
34. cup
35. clock
36. bao bao
37. gong gong (ge ge)
38. yeye
39. frog (croc)
40. Bee
41. Black
42. Blue
43. Green

I can't remember if there are more..will update as and when I think of any.

There are also several others that he makes consistent sounds to indicate...like,
1. Train (Mmm Mmm- high pitch)
2. Cow (Mmmmmmm)
3. Bus (Diah)
4. Elephant (Eh+mumbojumbo)

Ever since we watched Leap Frog, he's been more interested in his Alphabets.
He can repeat most of the phonics...and he recognises the letter T for sure. Everywhere he goes, once he sees the letter T on signboards, magazines, etc..he will point and go Tte! He also recognises B, P, L on ad-hoc basis.

He can't seem to pronounce MI and refuses to say Mummy :(

Car & Daddy

After weeks of shouting 'HAR!' at cars...Keston's finally said CAR correctly.

On the very same day, Keston also calls Daddy accurately now. No more Dada or Dadadadadadee...just plain old DAIR-DI! HW's mightily pleased...but what about Mummy??????

For a week or 2 now, Keston's been going GER GER everytime he sees cheo girls on tv, newspaper, mags....and even girls in his story books. Only the pretty ones though. Hum Sup boy!

Will work for food

Keston has always been food-motivated. When we wanted him to learn to sign, we'd use food as the bait. If he wanted to eat something, he'd do basically anything!

Whenever food is involved, his understanding of instructions suddenly powers up and he miraculously does whatever he's told. Well, almost everything anyway.

In his vocally challenged state, and even with the fistful of words he knows...he rarely says stuff we want him to say. For eg, when he sees a bird fly past, he will always spontaneously call out BIRD BIRD. But if we were to point it out to him and ask him what is it, he'd only sometimes respond. If we were to ask him "Say Bird Bird", he'd refuse flat out.

But if he was waiting for some snack, he'd repeat everything we want him to say with no hesitation....
Say Bird
BIRD BIRD
Say Duck
DUCK DUCK
Say Mama
MAMAMAMA
Say Papa
PaPa
...etc.

Anyway, I digress. This post is not actually about him learning through food.

When K doesn't have school, it is fairly easy to get him to nap after lunch. We know that he's full and thus, ready to sleep.

But when K comes back from playschool after lunch, we're never sure of his hunger level. We're pretty sure he is not fed enough at lunch (yet he doesn't ask for more) cos he will ask for milk, which he doesn't usually drink after lunch. After the milk, he'd still look like he want more food and will have a bao or a slice of banana&nut bread. Sometimes I don't think he's hungry but he doesn't mind having more food. On most occassions he'd want to end it all with cheese. The problem is, he doesn't stop at 1 slice...he'd whine for a 2nd slice and then a 3rd!!

So we started cutting the slice of cheese in half and giving him in half pieces. Whenever he asks for another slice, I'll tell him to "Lie down, don't move" and I'll make the whole motion of going out to the kitchen to get him more. The reason I tell him not to move is cos my laptop is usually on the bed and he would end up pounding on it. However, whenever he's waiting for cheese or milk(at night), he wouldn't mess with my stuff. He'd lie there quietly waiting for me to come back. Last week I started not coming back!

I decided he didn't look hungry and so I just stood outside the ajar door and peeped at his feet, and I'd stretch abit and peep at his chest to see the breathing patterns. I had to be very careful not to look at his face cos he'd see me then! And sure enough, it took him less than 5 minutes to fall asleep!

I've done it almost everyday now and he falls asleep within 5 minutes without fail once I leave the room. If I'm in the room, he'd be dancing on the bed, jumping on me and all sorts of nonsense!!! Yesterday he woke up from his nap remembering that I didn't give him his cheese and asked me again. Seeing as he hadn't completed his requisite min 3 hrs nap, I told him I was gonna get it for him and just stood outside the door until he passed out again. haha! So terrible, but it works!

Encounters of the bat kind

Last Friday, on reaching home, I had to fit back the freshly laundered carseat cover so HW took Keston upstairs first. When I got up, HW was carrying Keston standing near the door and was very tense. He told me there's a bat in the house and Keston is very scared. So the first thing I did was to carry Keston into my room, turned on the aircon and closed the door. Now, whenever Keston's in my room, he'd go crazy playing with my laptop, dancing and running on the bed, climbing up and down, etc. This time, he kept perfectly still in the position I put him. I kept assuring him that there's nothing to be afraid of and I'll be right back.

Back in the living room, I haven't seen the bat yet and was still in disbelief. I asked HW if he was sure it wasn't a big moth! And then the mighty bat took a short flight, batwings and all, onto the sofa. It tried to burrow itself into the folds of the sofa, I think to seek solace in the darkness. We turned on all the lights and opened the windows...well, HW did. I sunk in a corner screaming out instructions! Every now and then I'd go back into the room to check on Kes and he'd still be sitting in the exact same position, expressionless. It was very very odd behaviour for him. Nevertheless, we had a bat to capture.

While HW was out there keeping watch on the bat, I googled for ways to deal with the bat. I mean, who knows what to do? It's not like you meet a bat everyday, or even every year! HW wanted to whack the bat but heck, it's an animal not an insect...how can? Anyway the internet says to just leave the windows open and eventually the bat will fly away. Huh? What if it doesn't fly away....what if it is still in the house, and appears again the next day? Scrap the idea.

The next solution was a more feasible, yet scarier, option. We had to find a box, use it to cup the bat, and then get a cardboard piece to slot in at the bottom to encase the bat. So I ran around the rooms looking for boxes to slice up. And then came the difficult part-- how to cover the bat when it was currently nestled between the backing and seat of the sofa???

I was scared, but HW was also scared. He kept asking me if shining a torchlight at the bat will kill the bat! haha...really think it's a vampire ah??? He kept asking me to remove the cushions so he can cup the bat, but I die also don't want to be in such close proximity with the bat. So after loads of shouting and shifting the responsibility, he finally managed to yank all the cushions off the sofa and cup the bat.

And then he didn't dare to slot in the cardboard piece underneath. Cos in doing so, the box on top would have to be lifted slightly and we were afraid the bat will wriggle out from the resulting gap. So after loads of trial and error (with an empty box), we finally captured the bat.

The whole process took more than an hour. And in that time, Keston sat in the exact spot on my bed. He did not make a single sound nor movement. His whole body was cold and occassionally he'd tap his chest to signify 'scared scared'.

Finally we had to dispose the bat but none of us wanted to walk too far away with it, or *gasp* let it go in the open. What if it flies back into the house? So we left the box covered on the stairs outside the house, ran home and shut all the windows!!

Keston was obviously in shock....and he became feverish. It took alot of coaxing before he snapped out of it. Before that, he acted like his soul left his body. It was that scary.

The next day, he developed a high fever and vomited out his lunch. He'd take 2 spoons and vomit. Take another 2 spoons and vomit. The doctor said he got a stomache virus. But we think it's the aftermath of shock. In the next few days, Keston totally shunned solids. We were told not to give him milk, but it was the only thing he'd take. But a few times, he'd drink milk and vomit out again. Sigh.

It's been a week but his appetite is not back yet. Sure lose weight!

At 22mths 1wk, he's 12.1kg

Parents-Teachers Conference

On the 27th of May, we had our first PTC aka Meet the teachers session.

This was our chance to find out more about how Keston was doing in school and how he's progressing. He didn't get a very good report book due to his inability to vocalise. Teacher Stella said none of the boys in the junior class were talking yet, which is a small consolation. Overall, he seems to be adapting ok in class. He tends to run around, not wanting to sit down (as expected). He enjoys the outdoor activities, singing and dancing and he's started feeding himself (we don't really let him try at home cos too mafan :P) and he has a girl looking after him in school. We were told this little girl in the senior class has been making it her responsibility to take care of him ever since he started school. She'll bring him toys, sayang him...and even FEED him!!!! Hahaha...hilarious! We've seen her after school and sometimes she comes over to stroke Keston's arm before leaving with her grandpa.

Teacher mentioned that we should try to stop his signing so he will need to talk to get what he wants/needs.

Hopefully we'll have a less painful transition period when school starts next term. And hopefully Keston will start talking. Soon! Ball, Duck, Bird, Mama, Papa, There, Dada, is not quite enough!

Firsts

It's been a week of firsts.

On Thursday, when we reached school and HW was getting Keston out of the car seat...the little bugger did not start whining/wailing. Instead, he waved at me and gave me a flying kiss. When HW put him down in the class, he did not cling on either and gamely waved and blew kisses at HW. I was ecstatic and updated on my FB..but later on feared that I'd probably jinxed myself. Too late!

Thankfully Friday went the exact same way. Our kid has finally gotten accustomed to school!!!

For a long long time, one of my main worries, aside from his speech delay..is that Keston does not drink from a straw. I tried all sorts of straw (spongy type, regular Macdonalds type, fat bubble tea type, teeny yakult type...) and all he'd do is chew on the straw. Believe me, I tried all the techniques of dripping juice/water into his mouth and blah blah blah. But nothing worked! Once the straw was in his mouth, he'd chew till it went to bits.

Although I was fretting quite abit, I must admit I wasn't very consistent in getting him on the straw. I'd try relentlessly for 2 days and give up for the next month...and then start worrying and make him try for a day and then give up for the next month!

Knowing that he would never start sucking cos he'd rather bite..my obvious solution would be to get him a steel or glass straw. But I never got down to it....also, HW keeps insisting that he's gonna bite the glass and there would be glass bits in his mouth.

Anyway a while ago, I saw this cute Mickey Mouse straw cup from The First Years on Amazon and read that the straw was the hard type. So what the hell right? Another straw cup to add to my collection....I received the package a couple of weeks ago but couldn't be bothered to let him try. On Friday, I was abit free so I gave it to him and voila~ HE DRANK FROM THE STRAW!!!!
So yah, Keston's finally drinking from the straw at almost 22months!

Mean girl

Because HW brings Keston into class everyday, he gets to interact more with the other children. Afterwards, I'd hear about which kids liked to sayang Keston...which girls stroked his face...which boys played with him...

But there is 1 girl in particular that HW dislikes. On Keston's first week, when HW tried to settle him in class by giving him a toy to play with. This girl, J, glared at him and said "NO" then grabbed the toy away. HW was annoyed and kept droning on about how rude this girl was. When we picked up Keston, we happened to see J's grandma bringing her home. HW went "That's the girl! Recognise her face!" I was like...why?? He said "Then you can stare at her whenever you see her!" Haha...so childish right? I told him maybe Keston also snatches things from her in class?

On another occasion when Keston and another girl were crying relentlessly when being dropped off....J came in front of them and scolded them (complete with hands on hips action) "PLEASE KEEP QUIET!" while the rest of the kids would say "Baby don't cry". Again, HW was annoyed.

The 3rd occasion came when he brought K into the classroom...Another boy called out "Keston" and gave Keston a toy to play with. J came forward to stop the boy and shouted "NO!"HW couldn't hold it in anymore and asked her "Why No?" She said "Police catch!"
"Why Police catch?"
"Because they naughty!"

.....

So on our way to school everyday HW will tell Keston "If J scolds/bullies you, you scold her back ok?"

3rd week of Play school

Alamak! Just realised I haven't even blogged about Keston's first week of school and we've already reached week 3!!!

Week 1 was tough. On the first day, he actually didn't cry much cos he didn't realise he was gonna be left alone for 4 hours. On the 2nd day, he started crying as soon as Daddy took him out from the carseat. The 3rd day, he started recognising landmarks and would start crying once he realised we were enroute to school. Also on the 3rd day, he had the most horrendous nightmare/night terrors and woke up wailing at 2am. Nothing in the world could get him to stop crying, nothing in the world could get him to go back to sleep. In the end, I relented and played Mickey Mouse Clubhouse to calm him down. Worked a charm and he stopped crying. But everytime an episode ended, he'd threaten to turn on the waterworks. He refused to let me turn off the tv and sat there watching tv till 4 am, when daddy woke up and scolded him. He finally agreed to go back to the room but sat there tossing and turning till he finally fell asleep at 5am. Needless to say, we were very VERY late for school.

The whole of the first week, I had a hard time adjusting his routine. Although he'd had lunch in school at 11.30, he still seemed hungry at 12.30 after school. So after a quick bath, he would eat his full bowl of porridge. And then the whole world would come tumbling down cos he'd refuse to step into the room to nap. He'd play for abit and then start getting frustrated with everything-- his toys, me, himself. I'd endure the wailing, whining, struggling (when I try to carry him). Nothing works! He'd fly into a major tantrum and nothing could appease him. He'd look terribly sleepy but simply refused to nap. Finally at around 3pm, I'd give him his milk and he'd fall asleep drinking the milk. His afternoon naps were fretful as well and he kept jolting awake... I had to keep watch beside him to make sure he gets at least 3 hours of sleep (or he would wake up pissed off). This happened consecutively for the whole week.

The 2nd week, I decided that he probably doesn't need the additional lunch and is probably overstimulated, hence the crankiness. So, after school, he goes straight into the bath and would get his milk immediately. This seems to be the perfect formula as he'll guai guai and calmly fall asleep by 1.30pm.

Thankfully this worked out cos frankly, I could not handle his afternoon crankiness for the 1st week and was screaming and yelling at him all the time to SHUT UP and GO TO SLEEP! Baby crying + Mummy screaming...I can't imagine what the neighbours must think! :P

School-wise...the 2nd week, he seems to be adjusting better. Not crying so much during class, and starting to participate in class activities. He's still crying everyday when daddy drops him off in class. Daddy tries to settle him in class first before leaving but he will always cry when daddy goes off. Daddy has reported that alot of little girls like to surround Keston, singing around him, giving him toys and sayanging him, telling him not to cry. So sweet right?

But the little boy probably gets freaked out by people stroking his face, so he continues to cry. Sigh. Got girls sayang, still cry? Big already won't have such privilleges liao!

In case you're wondering, Mummy doesn't drop him off for class cos he's so sticky to mummy that he will cry even harder and hold on even tighter. We're still hoping for the day he happily waves bye bye and runs into class himself.

I hate cold calls!

I really hate cold calls. Especially when they start off with a chirpy GOOD MORNING! HOW ARE YOU? in a Filipino accent. So I usually don't answer the phone when I don't recognise the number.

Yesterday my phone rang when K was in school. Thinking it might be from the school, I answered.

Caller: (China Accent) 你好！我们是艺全语文学校。
Me: What?
Caller: (sounding annoyed) 我说我这里是艺全语文学校。
Me: Yes?
Caller: 我们学校。。。
Me: 我的儿子还小，还不到上学的年龄。
Caller: Oh 我们也有CHAR CARE。。。
Me: 我们不上childcare。
Caller: 那我们也有 Kindergarten。
Me: 他才1岁半！！！
Caller: 18个月吗？
Me: Yes
Caller: 那我们有CHAR CARE!
Me: (damn annoyed) 我们不上Childcare!!!

Playschool

Ever since Keston's very traumatic and very short stint in Infantcare a year ago, school became a forbidden word in the household. I don't talk about it cos I know the pils will jump at the chance to dumpput him in childcare. We don't even talk about nursery or kindergarten!!

But as Keston turned 18mths, with no improvement to his oral communications...and with the added pressure of reading about other kids going to playgroups, we talked about it again. There were 3 main choices for us-- the cheap 2 hrs type that are held in childcare centres, Montessori types and BJG where Keston once attended weekend classes.

Our main aims for sending him to playgroup are:
(a) Socializing with other kids
(b) Learn something...anything
(c) Be abit more independent

Childcare Centre Playgroup
Pros:
Cheap
2 hours only (so if he spends the whole time crying, it's not thaaaat long)

Cons:
Combined with childcare, so much more sick bugs about
Not really learning-based
If he spends 2 hours crying, there wouldn't be any time left to socialise/learn/interact!

Montessori Playgroup
Pros:
Usually 1.5-2 hours (again, if he were to spend the whole time crying..it's not so bad)
Learning through play sounds interesting
Not attached to childcare, less viruses

Cons:
Got the impression that there may be too much independence since each kid basically plays what he/she wants to. Defeats the purpose of socializing.
Not cheap
What exactly do you learn? He already does alot of those building, matching games at home.

BJG
Pros:
4 hours programme (after spending some time crying, still got leftover time to do stuff!)
We like the programme they offer-- wholebrain stimulation
Not attached to childcare, less viruses

Cons:
Not cheap
It's 4 hours! Does he really need to be in school for 4 hours at this age?? Even nursery's only 2-3 hours! What if he spends all 4 hours wailing?


So, in the end we decided on BJG as we feel they have a good wholesome learning programme. The 4 hours was our only vice as it does seem a tad too long. Playgroup, or rather, Playschool starts 19th April 2010.

My possessive boy

When K was just a little baby, I witnessed HW's nephew protesting when his mummy was carrying K. I was amused and confident that Keston wouldn't be so possessive. Afterall, he was perfectly fine with me playing with the other kids during his babyjumpergym classes.

Boy was I wrong. Fast forward a few months. The first time I witnessed his possessive-maniac streak was when I met up with Shimin and baby Ryan when K was just over 18months. As baby Ryan was learning to cruise, he'd hold on to his mummy's knees for support and cos my knees were nearby, he accidentally/occasionally cruised over to my knees. K immediately displayed territorial aggression by roughly shoving Ryan's hands away from me. I was amused but also pai sey by his rude gesture.

A while later, I was in the library browsing for books to borrow and another toddler came and stood very close to me. He was probably curious about the book I was holding since K was happily running all over the place. K's antennas immediately stood up and immediately came over to stand in between us. He looked at the boy with animosity and a short while later, snatched the book that the poor kid was holding.

During our trip to Taiwan, we met up with an acquaintance who has a daughter a few months older than K. The girl, S, was rather keen on K and would keep calling out '弟弟来!' whenever he ran out of her range of view. And when we were back in her father's office, she was watching a cartoon on the computer when she pushed a chair beside her and said ‘弟弟坐!' She was rather aggressive though and K seemed abit afraid of her. But when I tried to take photos of the 2 little tykes, S came close to me to look at herself in my camera. K turned into a green monster yet again and charged at her to grab her shoulders. HW and I thought he was bring affectionate and just smiled, while to our horror we saw him holding her still by the shoulders and then trying to headbutt her. Thankfully we were close enough and managed to stop him in time. S, on the other hand, thought he was playing with her and giggled gregariously.

During this trip, we'd occasionally hear Keston whining/protesting about something unknowingly. Somehow we discovered it always happened when he sees us holding hands. He'd get very angry and pry away HW's fingers, then entwine his fingers with mine or hug my hand. He also gets mad when he sees that I'm not the one pushing his stroller, he'd then insist that I hold his hand whenever HW's pushing him. Wah lau eh, my hands no longer belong to me!

Not that we have any plans, but should we have a #2, I'm afraid he'll strangle him/her in the middle of the night.

6D5N Taiwan trip

Before I got pregnant with Keston, we'd booked a skiing holiday to Korea. However, a short while later we discovered the pregnancy and decided to cancel the trip. Thus we were stuck with $1600 deposit with Chan Brothers . The expiry date for the deposit to be utilised was supposed to be when Keston was a few months old. We then asked for it to be extended till Keston was abit older...March was the last extension date given to us. While it meant that we had to utilise the amount by 31st of March, HW insisted that we travelled before 31st March in case of any complications in the terms and conditions.Our initial plan was to do a self-drive in Australia. But it's supposed to be pretty hot now and we were afraid Keston would get even tanner than he is. So the plan was scrapped and we decided on Taiwan.
I was supposed to plan the itinerary since we were going F&E...but I'm such a procrastinator that the whole itinerary actually came out only a day before we departed!!! The hotel in Taipei was booked a month before and the accomodations in Taichung, less than 2 weeks before we arrived! Please don't leave any organising to me. I suck!

DAY 1:

Keston fell asleep when the plane was taxiing off. We were silently celebrating and hoping he'd sleep through the meal time at least. Alas, he woke up after only 1 hour! 1 HOUR!? I'd expected him to nap for 3 hours! Aghh..the rest of the journey was a mild nightmare as he insisted on climbing up my lap, pulling out all the reading materials in the pocket in front of us and our neighbour. The SQ toy was a Ben10 felt figurine and a stencil set. He wasn't interested in either. His toy cars kept him occupied for like 10 seconds...we'd brought along a bowl of his porridge but he still wanted our bun and ice-cream. Tried to let him watch the cartoons on the in-flight entertainment but he wasn't interested. Finally whipped out the netbook and let him watch Mickey Mouse, which did the trick. By that time though, it was nearly time to start the descend and we had to switch off all electronics. Thankfully he didn't kick up a fuss when we kept the netbook away.At the airport, the Freego counter told us the last bus that transfers to our hotel has departed already and that their bus will only send us to 庆泰饭店, after which we had to cab it to our hotel at approx NT100. At that moment, it didn't even occur to me to take the Guoguang bus instead which would get us to Taipei main, which is not that far. We went up the Freego, plenty of space. Along the 1 hour journey, the little one was climbing and standing on the chair and playing/disturbing the couple behind us. Finally, I gave him a bun to munch on..and he fell asleep while eating. The transfer cab, btw, took us almost NT200. So it really wasn't worth it to take the Freego.The weather was fantastically cold...like being in a small room with the aircon on at 16 degrees and high fan speed. We were abit worried that we were under-dressed as HW was in berms and ts, I was in jeans..the little one was dressed in the most clothes, with berms, tee, leg socks and a pullover. Still his hands were very cold. The locals, on the other hand, appeared to be over-dressed in fur coats, bomber jackets, scarves, boots...basically winter wear!

Our hotel, 内江商旅 was diagonally across from the main Ximending square. Our room was in the new wing and it was quiet, clean, spacious and new! Quite impressed, especially since our first choice was Rainbow hotel (which is smack in the middle of XMD) but Rainbow is much smaller and older and slightly more expensive.

Asked the hotel recep for directions to 桃源街 to try their famed Beef Noodles but she recommended us to a nearer place called 牛店。The beef was really very tender and succulent and the soup was very tasty. Not cheap though, a small bowl costs NT150.

DAY 2:

Keston decided to wake up late..by 9+ he was still sound asleep so we had to wake him up for his milk and bath. Then we set out on our journey to Bitan and Wulai. The weather was still pretty cold.

Bitan basically looks like a reservoir....I'm not sure what it is supposed to be or symbolise. But it's just a nice nature-type place.

We took the bus up to Wulai. There were very few seats on the bus and most were occupied by elderly people from 50-80?? So I hadn't expected to be offered any seats though I was carrying Keston in the ergo. I was surprised that a 60ish uncle ushered me to his seat. The little boy fell asleep soon as the journey was a very rocky ride up the mountainous area. The boy continued sleeping as we walked through Wulai old street and had a stick of Taiwanese sausage made of wild boar. Tasty. Then when we sat down in a restaurant for lunch, he got awaken and bawled loud enough for the whole street to hear! I quickly brought him outside for a walk and came back for our meal. The food was nondescript. Expensive and nothing to shout about. The little monkey decided to take a dump halfway through the meal and we tried to finish up our meal before finding a place to change him. BIG mistake. It was a huge poop and had leaked out to his jeans by the time we changed him. Luckily we'd brought an extra change along, even though HW packed his pj pants (instead of the track pants that I prepared), which was v thin!! But still, better than nothing lah. HW's face turned black when his hand accidentally touched the poo and he was fussing about K's poo stained jeans. Luckily when he came back from the loo, Keston flashed him a big mega smile and called out Dada! And his mood changed for the better again.The Wulai waterfall is abit of a waste of time. But since we were there, just go and see lor. Basically, go Wulai once enough already...won't go again.Our attempts to find Gong Guan and Shida night market was pretty dreadful. Walked about everywhere but somehow didn't seem to be in the correct place. Had our dinner at some shop in Shida area. HW's mood turned black again cos we'd spent a whole hour in 7-11 @ Wulai applying for a prepaid SIM card. And the line was to be activated in 2-3 hours, but it wasn't still yet activated and the operator told him that he didn't submit his IC to the lady at 7-11! We were hopping mad cos he gave his IC and passport to the woman and somehow she photocopied his passport and customs declaration card, instead of the IC!! And she spent 1 hour just doing the photocopying!! She was so damn slow and yet, still can miss things out! The operator wanted us to go back to Wulai, which was impossible since we're so far away already and it's nighttime. HW's chinese isn't very good either, so he got v frustrated. In the end, we came to a compromise to go to a nearby 7-11 and have them fax his IC over to the Wulai 7-11. We had to pay for the fax but the lady here was very efficient and helpful and called Wulai to check if they got everything and if they'd fax his details straightaway to the call centre, blah blah. His mood got so horrendous that he started screaming at the operator when he was told that his line would be activated in another 8 hours. So I had to take over the call and calm things down..it was a very long phone call but I managed to get them to activate the line straightaway. So all was well again. Why we needed the sim card was cos we had to arrange a meet up the next day and confirm our daytour on the following day. Plus, his parents will nag for the whole nation when they can't contact us.

DAY 3:

We'd arranged to meet a business acquaintance for lunch at 12noon...so we let Keston wake up late again. We had to check out of the hotel as we were going to Taichung in the evening. Spent the morning just strolling about Ximending as we didn't want to have to rush back. All the shops were closed so it was very boring. Friend arrived with his whole family only at 12.30.

There seemed to be a jam everywhere and we reached our lunch venue close to 2. It was a fabulous lunch though, at 泰市场, in the Eslite building. It's got a fabulous international seafood buffet spread, not just Thai food. By the time we were done with the meet up, it was already evening time so we had no chance to go to Wufenpu. We were only just on time to hop on the 7.06pm train. Again, we had the netbook to keep Keston entertained through the 1hr train ride. I must say the HSR train is really very nice and comfy. Loads of leg room and its clean, quiet and smooth.

From the train station, there was a free shuttle bus to where our 民宿was located. There was supposedly a bus at 8.25pm so we rushed to the waiting area....and waited..and waited...and waited!!! The bus only came at 8.45pm!! The bus journey was another 30mins to Fengjia University. The owner of Tomato Rooms came to meet us and gave us directions to get to the building. Prior to the trip, we'd book their cheapest double room at NT1050/night. When we checked in, Tweety the owner told us she'd upgraded us to the suite so we'd be more comfy with the little one! So sweet right? The suite is supposed to be NT1680/night. In the end, she only charged us NT2000 total for the 2 nights. Don't understand and didn't question her calculation :P

The room is located in an apartment building with a security guard up front. You need your key to scan through the door to the lift as well as to actually use the lift. Very safe! And the room was seriously fantastic! It's basically a studio apartment and is very tastefully done up with a 360 degrees flat screen tv, living room, kitchenette, balcony, king size bed, etc. And when we asked them if there was wireless there, they promptly set up a wireless modem in the room for us. Talk about service!

DAY 4:

The reason why we'd travelled down to Taichung was cos we wanted to visit the farms in Miaoli. I'd wanted to organise a stay at the farm, but transport was getting to be such a headache that I searched for a day tour instead. I found a local company, Marshal Tour that picked us up from our apartment and brought us on a day tour to the animal farm and various spots in Miaoli.

It was a private tour so it was pretty much own time own target. The driver doubled as the guide, who was informative and polite. We had fun being tourists and it was relaxing not having to fret about our bags, transport, food, etc.

On our way back to the apartment, we asked the driver to bring us to 太阳堂 as I'd heard this was the famous shop to get 太阳饼 in Taichung. This has got to be the biggest joke of the trip. The driver/guide promptly informed us there are alot of 太阳堂 and did we have a particular one in mind. I thought he meant they had alot of branches and so I said any branch will do. Only when he brought us the the row of shops, did I know what he meant. Because 太阳堂 is so famous, many other shops also named themselves 太阳堂 -- so there was 太阳堂老店，太阳堂总店，太阳堂自由路，etc!!! He told us how at first 太阳堂 differentiated themself by placing sunflowers outside their shop. But when the tourists came, every other shop also started placing sunflowers outside. Then the real shop painted sunflowers on their walls...and every other shop did the same! I totally forgot I wrote down the address of the real 太阳堂 so we randomly went into 3 different shops to buy a box each. The 1st shop kept asking us to buy more but HW refused cos we wanted to try other shops. The 2nd shop kept bitching to us about the 1st shop and how they are fake, etc...and the 3rd shop's plastic bag was from some convenience shop. All in all, after I got back to the apartment I found the address and realised non of the 3 shops was the real shop! Haha! And we still prefer 李义饼店 at Jiufen.

DAY 5:

Keston didn't want to wake up in the morning again so we had to wake him up after we packed up to check out. The plan was to visit 纸箱王 before we go back to Taipei. When we asked Tweety for directions the previous day, she told us we could book a cab for NT1000...and if we wanted the cab to wait for us and then send us to the train station, it would be NT1800. She then suggested we take the bus instead, which would cost less than NT50. Since Cartonking opens at 11am and we were ready and out by 10am, we decided to try the bus since it's a good 40mins away. We found the bus stop and sat there waiting for half an hour and still no bus came! So we gave up and flagged a cab. The cabbie was a very nice and friendly man who chatted endlessly and told us Cartonking is in a v ulu location and we may have difficulty getting another cab out. At this point, I was thinking 'Uh-oh! He's gonna charge us an exhorbitant rate and convince us to book his cab.' But when HW asked him 'Then how?'...he just said 'Ermm...u wait patiently, should be able to find a cab.'....after a few minutes, he asked us how long we'd be there and we said we didn't know, probably an hour or so. He suggested that he'll have lunch somewhere nearby and when we're done, just give him a call and he'll come back for us. I was still thinking 'Hmm..got any surcharge or not?' But when we reached the destination, he only accepted payment for our journey there and did not mention anything else. When we were done, he sent us back to the apartment to get our luggage and then to the train station...when HW paid him a little extra, he still wanted to give us back the change (really just loose change)! See? Nice guy! And the whole journey was like NT500 or something like that!! Nowhere near NT1800!!!

Anyway, because Cartonking was so far away and Keston generally loves sleeping in cars, he was just dozing off when we reached Cartonking so he was jolted awake. And because he'd just missed his nap, he was so very cranky. Cartonking looks like a nice place for photography..loads of interesting structures made of paper. I'd wanted to have lunch at the restaurant cos their table and chairs were made of paper. But the little one was too cranky and couldn't keep still. He didn't want to be carried, didn't want to sit in the stroller and wasn't happy walking on the uneven ground either. So after a quick browse-- we were there for less than 30mins, we left the place. I was abit annoyed to have come so far and not get to enjoy the place!! On the cab back, Keston slept and slept all the way till we got to the train station.

Paid the peak hour rates for the 1pm train to Taipei...arrived back at 2pm and made our way back to the hotel by 3pm. We spent the afternoon shopping at the 2nd hand cd shops in Ximending while Keston snoozed away in the carrier. Then finally went to Shilin night market that night.

DAY 6:

Couldn't do much as we had to take the 10.50am Freego bus to the airport.

I'd wanted to post my intended itinerary with notes here but realised I need to use html codes and I really can't be bothered...so if you want to see my itinerary, just leave a comment.

Baby Signing Time

Ever since watching Meet The Fockers, and getting bowled over by adorable little Jack, I've always planned on teaching my (then) future kid sign language.

I didn't know where to buy the Baby Signing Time DVDs and went on to dl(shhhh) it off the net. And because it was on my old lappie that did not have a DVDr drive, I could not burn it out. I hardly let Keston watch stuff on my lappie so he watched the show only a handful of times.

Very recently I finally transferred it to my new laptop and bothered to figure out how to burn it out. And thus we got to enjoy it on the large screen. I must say I really like the series as the songs are very catchy and the kids are very cute and animated. We've been watching it for a couple of months on-off and I was wondering why Keston hasn't picked up anything yet. Then I happened to click into the extra features bit where there's a section teaching you how to use this dvd. Duh! You are supposed to help your kids do the sign! Hahaha..and there I was thinking that kids are supposed to figure it out from watching tv. Of course you're supposed to be using the signs with them as well, which I do only when I remember so no consistency there.

Anyway, I started straight away. And since food is Keston's main vice, I used that as a 'bait'. I started out during his breakfast. I'd ask and teach him to sign 'please' when he wants the next spoon of apple. I did it consistently with every spoon of apple. During lunch, he surprised me by signing 'please' when I asked him to. So it would be like Keston pointing to his porridge and I'd say PLEASE and he'd quickly sign it.

By dinner time, he was doing it voluntarily half the time. And by the next day he used 'please' with every request-- food, toys, carry, etc. A big WOW moment came when he was playing with a tennis ball on my bed and I told him to stay put till I came back. I went outside the room and heard him drop the ball off the bed. I wondered briefly if he'd get down from the bed. When I came back into the room, he was still sitting obediently on the bed minus the ball. He immediately pointed to the ball on the floor, said 'BALL' and signed 'please'. I laughed and said ok and he scrambled after the ball immediately.

He's moved on to 'thank you' (although he covers his mouth instead of just his chin and it looks similar to his flying kiss) and 'apple' (not very accurate but close enough). My pet peeve is he does not thank voluntarily, only if I prompt him. The only time he does it voluntarily is when he really really wants something that's out of reach. Like his cheerios, he'd point at it and sign please and thank you repeatedly! I'm finding it hard to advance to words that do not require the use of food as a reward. He sounds like a pet here :P

I'm still concerned that his vocab is very very limited but I'm glad he's picking up signs to help him express himself.