I'm back!

OMG! Joash is turning 7mths tomorrow and I haven't blogged anything about him! Where to start? Where to start? In notes form:

- He's a smiley but difficult baby. He offers smiles v freely, but is extremely sticky and stubborn. Refuses to sit on the stroller and carseat, refuses to sleep on his own, refuses CIO. He can stubbornly cry for hours, so it's impossible to train him to sleep through.

- He's v fast in his developments. Started leopard crawling at 5mths, sitting up by himself and proper crawling at 6mths, pulling himself up to stand at 6.5mths. And now starting to cruise just before turning 7mths! Too fast!!

- Like Keston, he didn't take to solid v well. Still perservering in getting him properly started on solids.

- Unlike Keston, he latches v well.

- Took his maiden trip out of Singapore, to Taiwan. Long gruelling week for me cos I had to ergo him all the time.

More when I have time :)

Cars 2 is coming to town..finally!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AT8Rf5M-uq4

It's no secret that Keston loves CARS....like most boys his age, they seem to have an invisible attraction to things with wheels, ie. cars and trains. Or rather, CARS and THOMAS. But let's get this straight, he likes Thomas but he LOVES CARS.

To fuel his addiction, we have watched the original part 1 DVD probably like a hundred times now and buy every issue of the CARS magazine to keep him interested in reading...He knows the name of all the characters, even the calefare *blink-and-you'll-miss-it* ones...!!!

Sometime last year I read that CARS 2 would be out this year and was quite excited to bring him to watch. Alas, I would have just delivered didi and be in confinement when it finally hits the big screens over here. Although his dad has promised to bring him to the movies, I am still disappointed as I would love to be there watching with him, rather than to hear him talk about it.

Catch Cars 2 movie starting from 25^th August 2011 and join the official Disney Studios Singapore Facebook & Twitter page!

Now I'm 3!

My precious firstborn turns 3! A year ago this time, I was fretting about his inability to vocalise. A year on, he's now talking up a storm! It's been an interesting year seeing the little one blossom and growing into his own character.

For the most part, he's still a shy little thing. He enjoys meeting people, often requesting to go to "Mummy's friend's house" or to "See Daddy's friend", but will shy away when he sees strangers. In the privacy of family and familiarity, he's such a fun little boy. Obstinate definitely, but hilarious alot of the times.

I love talking to him every day after school as he recounts the day's happenings, from what food he ate to who was naughty in school. I do so love Keston at this age! The tantrums have dropped ever so slightly (better than nothing!) as it's easier for him to express what upsets him. That said, it is still not easy to tell him NO.

As the impending arrival of his didi looms, I've been filled with guilt for the upcoming neglect he's gonna be facing. I try to spend more time loving him, less time scolding him. And although I know it's not right, I do spoil him quite abit. For the past months I've been too lazy/tired to bathe him so his dad would have to drag a crying boy screaming "I WANT MUMMY TO PONG PONG!" into the bath. But in the final month of my pregnancy, I've been tending to his 3x daily baths. I know I won't be able to do it in the month after I pop, so I'm making up for it first :P

And although he was quite resistant to the idea of didi at first, Keston's now slowly coming around to the idea. While not quite embracing the thought, at least he accepts that it's going to happen. I do try to prepare him for the days ahead, reminding him that I won't have as much time to tend to him soon but I still love him very much. But he always ends up thinking I'm gonna be leaving him soon....sigh~

We'll see what happens.

Happy 3rd Birthday my little handsome one! Hope you'll stay the happy kiddo you are!

What would I do differently?

I've been meaning to and not getting down to blogging. There's so much to update-- Keston's school, developments, the coming baby, etc.

I'm now in my 25 weeks (or so, lost count :P) and I've been thinking, what would I do differently for this baby from what I did with Keston? Along the way, I must have commented a number of times "I will/won't do this if I have a 2nd baby" But now, I can't quite remember! Hmm...

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!