jerry turns 22 months!

almost one week ago, jerry turned 22 months! i crafted an entry much earlier but didnt find the chance to post it..and then i realised i lost the entry (disappeared into thin air on my phone) so im trying to very hard to recall what i wrote earlier.

 

im just gonna jot down the key improvements in the past month this time round since its getting really hard to differentiate the difference between the months in terms of growth.

 

the first thing that is new about him is his role as a big brother. jerry has been really good with his little brother. he has been the really sweet brother that is totally in awe of the baby. he touches jerome tiny little feet/toes and giggles like a little girl in fascination. he pats his little brother when he fusses, runs to bring milk bottles to feed (and attempts to feed) or shout out for me when baby cries and also tries to hug his little brother by pulling him close.

heartwarming sight.

 

there hasnt been any signs of jealousy yet (i hope i dont jinx it) but he does tells me to put didi down occasionally by patting the sofa/bed and goes “didi, orh orh!” when he requires my attention. i really appreciate him asking and i’ll usually accomodate him so he gets more of my attention. the other day, my mum was feeding him lunch while i was resting and lying beside jerome to catch a breather. the kid suddenly shouted, “mama! didi! neh neh!”. turns out, jerome has vomited milk all over his face! nice warning there!

 

independence in feeding. im torn on this. although jerry has been able to feed himself for a while now (a messy affair when it comes for hot meals). we still feed him his hot meals most of the time. he only self feed when its chunky items like fruits or biscuits. these days, he insist on feeding himself porridge or any other hot meals and wouldnt quite hear it or eat when he doesnt get his hands on the spoon. i know i should applaud his independence in wanting to feed himself, but unfortunately, he also likes to play with the food so it can get really messy when he does stuff like flicking the porridge out with his spoon. we have been adopting the 2 spoons feeding method for now – one spoon for him to self feed, another for us to feed so that at least most of the food gets into his stomach without too much delay and mess, and yet, he gets to practice self feeding himself.

taking the lift. errm. this is a bit of a headache. this kid knows how to press the lift button, get into the lift and take the lift elsewhere. the other day, he disappeared into thin air while my mum was watering her plants only to realise he has taken a ride in the lift down. the worst part of the equation is that, he thinks its funny and fun. i am totally freaked out and kept telling my mum to close the metal gates so my son doesnt run out but she just keep forgetting to do it (after so mamy years of not doing it) and my son is very fast and stealth in dashing out of the house. we dont hear him going out but 90% of the time, he’s already out there having fun climbing upstairs or downstairs. big headache, this one. i need a thick chain to chain him indoors i think. or a gps detector. jokes aside, before i adopt the extreme methods, i made him 2 road id tags to wear and while i was at it, i also made it for jerome as well. hopefully he doesnt get lost one day.

 

speech wise, he added a few more words in his vocabulary, but he hasnt been able to speak in sentences yet but he can string different words together to make people understand and uses the words in the correct context. he used to be able to say 谢谢 only but now he can say thank you as well and knows that they both means the same thing. i have had some success in teaching him who to say the thank you to, like ah ma, xie xie, papa thank you. please, thank you. he practice it the most when he wants to get his hands on the vit c gummies. he is also able to hold short conversations or articulate what he wants and its getting quite fun talking to him. however, the conversations are usually in a mish mash of both chinese and english and does feel a little ‘rojak’ since we speak to him in both languages concurrently. havent decided if this is good or bad. i do feel guilty for not teaching him as much for the last 2 months and hopefully, he can brush up this area better when he heads to school/childcare in a few more months! im sure there are a lot of kids in the same age that can converse much better but every kid have their own pace and they’ll eventually learn in school so im not that worried.

 

tantrums. this is getting worse and he has learnt to throw himself on the floor and not move till he gets what he wants. this now happens in public as well (argh!) and its truly an irritating phase that we are going through. im sure I’m getting stares from others in public now when he throws a tantrum or when i try to discipline him. yikes! 

 

toilet training. i would like to think we might be a step closer in this. thus far, i have successfully gotten him to poop into the toilet twice (albeit halfway through the job because i hadnt realised/not fast enough). we first started out having him to pee after his bath in the toilet before we dress him and have him wear a fresh diaper. he has been peeing on demand for a while since and one day, my mum suddenly just told him, why dont you dont wear the diaper and tell ah ma if you need to pee. 2 days later, he was standing at my toilet door peeling off his diaper. i was freaking out because i hadnt realised what he had wanted so i kept wearing the diapers back.. it hit me some 30secs later on what was happening and i quickly put him on the toilet bowl. since then, he would tell me “shu shu” and take off his diapers. when he poops, he goes.. “eeee..chou chou!” on repeat mode! but he seems rather shy about it and sometimes hide in a corner and secretly goes about his ‘business’ (literally). i also noticed that he also likes to poop on a fresh diaper sometimes, right after we change him.

 

i think he is a bit of a clean freak. he simply refuses his milk when he is pooping. there are times when he was drinking halfway and he poops. he stops drinking and reject the bottle no matter what (when i didnt realise he had pooped). he will only start drinking again when his butt is washed and his diapers are changed. funny little guy! so yeah, we are working on this and hopefully, can fully toilet train him before he turns 2.

 

wearing his own shoes. he does this pretty well, and interestingly enough, he never does wear the shoes the wrong side. i have no idea if it was through his observation or what, but he simply wears them correctly most of the time, unless it shoes that he aint familiar with, like my brother’s shoes or mine.

 

knowing that he is being punished. the other day, i left him to watch youtube videos while i went to take a quick shower, only to be greeted by this sight when i emerged from the bathroom.

he go hold of some markers and scribbled on my sheets (!!!), the bed frame,  the wardrobe, the study table, my macbook pro (!!!), the floor, as well as my room door.

and all over himself and his clothes as well.obviously got it bad from me, hence the crying above.

thankfully, they were washable markers and i made him clean up his own mess with some wet tissues.

there are still some faint stains on the wardrobe and all and its much cleaner but my sheets are gone. that said, i think it has provided him with some learning – cleaning up the mess he created. invalueable. i cant help but feel proud when he is cleaning up the mess!

 

i cant really recall what else is different in him and i seriously need to get to bed so i’ll end this entry and update again if i remember anything else.