Terrible Two's already??

Josiah is already 21 months old now. So to make life more interesting for Mummy, he has decided to start the terrible two earlier.

He will only go to bed if one of us stays in the room with him. No trying to sneak out because he has hearing of a cat and would cry and prolong the whole sleeping routine. Daddy now goes in with his iPod, Bible, book, after going for a pee.....cos we both know it will be a long time before he can get out again. Most days, Daddy just falls asleep - probably before Josiah!

He want to choose his socks and shoes before going out. I have no problems with this except depending on his mood, the shoes he chooses may not be suitable. It is cold and wet now but he still wants to go out with his sandals. Although I let him go with socks on - he still slips and falls and gets his socks all wet. Grrrr.....irritating. He even chooses what shoes Mummy should wear.

He wants to take a toy out with him - if it is a car, no problem, just take it. But sometimes, he wants to take him wagon or stroller out. Imagine, we had to take his girly pink stroller to church one Sunday because he was making a huge fuss and we just did not want to deal with a meltdown before going to church.

A few times now, when he is upset, he will just lie on the floor crying. Hrrmph. I do not tolerate such bad behaviour and will carry him up, put him back on stroller and ignore him. So far, been working cos he realise he is not going to get what he wants just by crying.

Vocabulary log

"yucks" - he says this when there are leaves/crumbs/dirt on his stroller

"cute" - dont think he knows the real meaning of the word but he would repeat it especially when he hears others saying it. For example, I told him to look at the cute dog, he would say "cute dog"

"see you" - dont think he knows why we always ask him to say this but he does say it quite well

"nite-nite" - as above

"shoes" - he loves choosing his own shoes. Current favourites are his blue sandals, Bear shoes from Malaysia and Bubble Gummer pair from my parents.

"feet", "hands", "eyes", "nose", "hair" - he points the face parts of his teddy bears and on our faces, he would poke you in the eye and nose just to show you he knows what he is talking about.

"milk" - FINALLY, after like one year effort to sign to him 'milk' and repeatedly asking him to say milk. He can now ask for it and mean it too. Life is getting better, folks!

he can recognise a couple of alphabets too, namely "O", "A", "R", "C"

As I mentioned time and time again that he is quite slow when it comes to physical things. He has finally learnt to sit on his "ride on" and actually push using his legs! Most of these were his one year old presents and now he uses them :)

Also, I caught him trying to climb up my dining chair. Am not complaining that he is slow in this area as I have always been able to leave him alone in the room knowing that he does not try to climb things. But looks like he is catching up.

Welcome to Terrible Two's Album collection!

He does enjoy sitting in the rocking chair complete with vibration - a toddler Osim chair.

Better remember to buy Mummy one when you grow up!

Trying to stack as many crayons into his monster truck.

Mooncake festival may be over but 'Kung Fu panda' lantern is always a hit!

Josiah's first attempt at climbing our dining chair. He hasn't done it since this pic was taken. :p

Alone again....

My parents left over 2 weeks ago, and life has been quiet since. Josiah's best friend Emma has also gone back to Singapore for good. It would explain why he is super clingy till today, I mean, I would hold on to Mummy and Daddy, seeing that everyone seems to disappear suddenly. Poor fella, I have not had much luck finding him another proper playmate. I mean, he has friends but they are a little too young for him so he is not as excited playing with them.

A more expensive alternative to this problem is to send him to nursery for a couple of hours, maybe once a week (that would cost Daddy a whooping $45 per day!!!!). Daddy's company would pay 100% only when Josiah turns 3 and only 50% if he starts early. Hmm.....tough one!

On home ground, more domestic disasters to mark the beginning of autumn.

Unknown to me, apparently one is not supposed to put ceramic plates into the oven. Well, I've been doing it since long ago especially when I just want to heat up a sandwich...etc

Anyway, was having some guest over to dinner and since the duck was cold, I decided to pop the whole plate (a Wedgewood one, no less) into the oven to heat it up. Imagine my surprise when it broke into two piece inside the oven. Yikes, luckily it was bought on offer by mum-in-law for $1 otherwise, it would have been a double disaster.

Then I burnt up Josiah's lovely chicken stew when I forgot to switch off the heat before I took him for Gymboree class. Poor guy, he had to eat whatever I could salvage from there. Then our bank card got spoilt but in a funny way. We can use it to pay at some shops but then totally unable to withdraw money from the ATM. This is a serious case of the credit crunch - we are running low on cash and on one occasion had to pay card for $2.99 purchase. Alamak, how are we gonna survive for another 10 days like this. Answer: Cashout at Tesco and Mark&Spencer. So when I shop then I ask them for money. Weird but there is no other way at this point.

I think Josiah looks so cute here in Ethan's outfit (thanks Ethan!)

Hug

My parents arrived on Saturday and although all of us are having a great time, Josiah is again up to his naughty tricks at night causing havoc to Mummy and Daddy's normal routine. He refuses to be put down on his own cot to sleep and insists on sleeping ON me or Daddy ALL NIGHT long!! We are both so tired from the lack of sleep that we have given up on even trying to put him back. Yesterday night was the first time he slept in our bed, even as a baby, he prefers his own cot to our bed - so I am stunned and worried too....

On the bright side, yea....lots of fun with Kong Kong and Poh Poh every day. Josiah loves running around the flat being "chased" by Kong Kong. Whilst Poh Poh indulges him in carrying him around and trying to fatten him up. She has lovingly prepared a Chinese soup which claims to improve appetites of kids who drink it. I made sure I did not have a sip - last thing I want is for me to improve my appetite (patting my love handles *hehehe*)

Today, Josiah says "Hug" and comes over for a hug. He did this a few times and is so sincere about it that I drop everything just to give him a hug. Sigh. Wished I can have these hugs for the rest of my life but I know it is only for a period so am gonna enjoy it.

Hugs away, my little boy!

p/s: I finally bought Josiah a baby stroller - it is pink and he loves it!

Month 20: I know....I know....

Josiah turns 20 months a couple of days ago. And he is quite the chatterbox these days. He copies everything that you would prefer him not to copy and refuses to say the alphabets or proper words! Typical toddler attitude if you ask me. Testing their limits and boundaries and especially Mummy's patience.

Vocabulary log

"I know, I know".... irritating but no one to blame but myself as he must have heard me say that frequently enough to learn it. He says it with the correct attitude too - sigh, a show off at hand who cannot even recite his ABCs yet.

"Oh, no" - this phrase is copied from his favourite Little Einstein show.

"Runaway" - funny word to learn, but it is part of a song from Barney.

"No more" - used when he finishes his yogurt since he never finishes anything else. Also constantly used when I try to read to him. He just flips to the last page and says no more. Naughty boy!

"Door", "key", "open" - he will now bring you something and asks for it to be opened.

"Thank you" - at least he learnt this concept fairly well. He will say thank you quite willingly

"Please" - bad pronounciation on this one, sounds more like 'piss'

"Flower" - another bad pronounciation, sounds more like "wah-wah"

"Pig", "Dog", "Bear" - yea!!! finally some animal words. I have been trying to get him to say the usual animal name for ages. Previously, he only says duck. Still no progress on cow, horse, monkey - he would just make the noises for these animals!

"Wow", "Oops" - it is so cute when he says these type of exclamation-type words.

"Hello", "Bye" - his favourite being the latter, would say it often when Mummy has been on Skype for some time. He would just come over and say bye without being asked signalling you to end the conversation and get on with play time!

"Where" - does it with both hands open in a questioning manner. Drama king.

"Up", "there", "go" - great that he can tell us where he wants to go now. Not so great when he wants to get 'up' the moment we put him in the highchair at the restaurant.

"Mini" - he loves the Mini Cooper so much.

Still a long way more to proper communication with poor Mummy who have to scratch her head all day trying to figure out what Josiah wants.

One of his latest thing is to sit on any small stool/ledge/corner/step he can find. He would position himself to sit down and then asks me to join him. It is quite sweet when we are out at the park and he does that. I would join him and he would be grinning happily for no other reason than just to sit with me. Sigh. Motherhood's precious moments. Other not so convenient occasions like when I am late to meet up with friends and he decides to sit on the steps before going into the lift. Hurrying him would only make him upset but sometimes, no choice so I just grab him and go. Boo hoo.

He can now slowly go up and down the stairs holding on to the rails. He is a bit late in this development and I am happy that he can even do that. The amount of practice needed - phew! All his other friends (some even younger) goes up and down like a pro. He can manage on his own a small, small step - about 1 inch high. Hahahahaa......what can I say, he's a scardy cat just like his Mummy and Daddy.

He still loves to push things and loves his wagon and any girl-type baby stroller. He can push his wagon for one hour at the park. Great workout for both of us.

Finally, more teeth are popping out. About time too, he must be the only 20 month old with only 6 teeth. I think he is getting another 4 more at the bottom - cannot get a better view of those molars as he will bite if you stick your finger in. Having more teeth also helped his eating. He can somewhat eat some small chicken pieces and loves fish fingers. Pasta is also on his menu now, but stll has to be quite soft before he would have some.

Still loving his bath, he knows to go to the toilet when I mention "bath". Would insist on all his toys inside the tub and then indicate he wants to go in. He'd sit there all day if I let him.

Josiah enjoying his bouncy chair which can convert to toddler rocking chair with massage function too.

Look at me, Mummy....I can read....or maybe not!

Let's Go To The Zoo

The weather predictions were good, it was a Saturday with no other plans. We decided to take Josiah to the London ZSL Zoo in Regent's Park. We asked Emma and family to join us too. We met up at the zoo in the longest queue I'd ever seen to enter a zoo??!! It was a good 1km long but it was a moving queue so we decided to stick it out. Good move as we had so much fun seeing all the animals in such close proximity.

Josiah was not as interested with the animals as Emma but he had loads of fun running around. I used my "baby leash" for the first time to see if he minded - which he didn't. Problem with the leash is that you would have to keep up with him and is probably more tiring than letting him run around on his own!

We saw a whole range of animals like gorillas (eating), monkeys (scratching each other's backside), donkeys (hee hawing loudly whilst eating), zebra, giraffe, reptiles, fishes, lion (sleeping!), tiger (also sleeping!), vultures (devouring smelly chicken carcass - really nasty!), flamingos (standing around), otters (sunbathing - super cute), meerkats, camels (sitting around), penguins (waddling around looking cute), wild dingo (barking fiercely)...etc

I would say it is a good range of animals but a bit pricey - 17 pounds per person.

We had lunch of fish and chips and pies before the kids went for a nap. Then we walked over to Regent's Park for a quick look before heading for dinner. We went to Phoenix Palace and feasted over some yummy steam fish, pork belly with buns, fried rice and tofu.

All that walking in the zoo went down the drain with that delicious dinner.

Look at the queue...

Josiah and Emma putting on their hats

Daddy with Josiah - my little puppy :)

Posing for a pic in Regent's Park

Two Toddler & One Baby = Fun!

My cousin, D and family came to visit us last week. It was lovely as I have not seen their 2nd baby, Kirsten who was already 8 months old! Kezia is nearly two and is absolutely lovable! Their short holiday was so we could meet up and Sarah could surprise her family by turning up at her uncle's 40th birthday. Of course, their request was to have as much Chinese/Malaysian food as it is easier to get good Chinese food in London compared to Ireland. We started our eating mission an hour after they arrived - polishing off half a duck, "siew yok" and "char siew". Although everyone was full from lunch, we still managed to finished quite a bit of dinner. Takeaway portions of nasi lemak, satay, nasi goreng pedas, curry mee, fried mee hoon and chicken rice!!!! It was a great holiday for me too. No need to cook and lots of yummy food to eat. The next day, S took a day off so we went for "dim sum" at Pearl Liang where we managed to finish 9 egg tarts. Ooohh.....even the picky Josiah managed to eat one by himself. Then we headed out to Harrods by bus but it proved a bit tricky as we had 3 strollers with us and most buses only accept two or one (if another stroller already inside). We had to take separate busses and met up outside Harrods. More Chinese food for dinner as we met with D's other cousins at Four Season Restaurant! We then decided no more Chinese food for dinner the following day.

Josiah and Kezia played all night and when we tried to put Kezia to bed - all she did was climb out of the cot and came out to play again. So set the pattern of sleeping late every night, 11.30pm every night!! All the parents were tired waiting for these two to be tired... :)

After they went to bed, we had to chat in our toilet as Kezia is sleeping in the living room, Josiah in our room and Kirsten in the guest room. Hahaha. Kicked out of our own home.

Their holiday came to an end so quickly and we certainly missed them.

But we have some lovely pics to remind us of the fun we had

Do come again!

Kezia and Josiah having a chat whilst Sarah is stuck to our front door!

One happy family

Malaysian goodies from Kiasu Restaurant

Wind the Bobbin' Up

I started bringing Josiah to playgroups more often after he started walking. Normally, playgroups here are organised by churches or council people. We normally go to 2 different ones depending on my mood. The one that is walkable only holds under 3s sessions once a week. The other one in St Peter's Nottinghill is a bus ride away but holds it 4 times a week. Josiah loves the singing sessions at the playgroups and I am trying to be more hardworking in bringing him there. One of his favourite is this 'Wind The Bobbin' Up' - which I learnt from attending various playgroups here. Everyone always sing the same few favourites which includes:

• Wheels on the Bus
• Old MacDonald
• If You're Happy and You Know It
• Row, Row, Row Your Boat
• Incy Wincy Spider

So now, he will ask for some songs by doing the action for each song. But his all time favourite is Wind The Bobbin Up which is a song about winding a bobbin (some spinning thread thingy). Here are the lyrics;

Wind the bobbin up, wind the bobbin up

Pull, pull, clap, clap, clap

Wind it back again, wind it back again

Pull, pull, clap, clap, clap

Point to the ceiling, point to the floor

Point to the window, point to the door

Clap your hands together now, one two three

Put your hands upon your knees.

I think he only likes it because it involves a lot of clapping. Here's a video of him at the St Peter's playgroup.