Potty time! Day 2 & 3

Feeling disheartened and wanting to go out, I have decided to try the potty training in the morning till whenever I feel like going out which is usually after 1pm. In Day 2, I decided to let him run around without pants at all with hopes of catching him in action and pointing out to him that it is called a "wee wee" and that he CAN control it if he wants to. Despite having Grandpa around to help me watch him and try to catch him before he wee on the floor, we failed miserably. Not one drop in the potty and lots of Dettol floor wipe action instead! We went out for lunch to reward all the adults for trying :)



Day 3 started out well, I had a nice talk to him telling him about how he will get a lollipop if he manages to wee in the potty. I managed to get Josiah to sit for really long time on his potty but guess what? He just did not have to wee at all. From 9am till 1pm he was dry and just as I put him on his highchair for lunch, the dam broke and it was like Niagaria Falls at the dining table. Out came the Dettol again. It is nearly 4pm now and he has just sat on the potty for 30 minutes and not one drop. Frustrated at this, I put on his nappy and got down to the laptop. It is super tiring looking at his little "koo koo" for so many hours hoping to catch a little sign that he is about to wee. I have never looked at it for so long before. Ever. The problem is that he does not drink a lot of water and he has never been a fan of water, getting his water from milk and soups only. I have to make sure he has more water to drink tomorrow.

Toddlerhood: The Next Frontier

"I can't see Daddy anywhere" said Josiah this morning as we are heading out to church.

Wow, his first proper sentence.

Instead of answering him, I looked at him wondering how I once was in awe when he said his first word. Nowadays, his vocabulary is growing and his quirky remarks really makes my day.

I know one day, I will look back on this and moan about how he cannot stop talking but for now - I want to savour this warm fuzzy feeling I get whenever I hear him talk.

His other achievements include:

• Able to sing Twinkle, twinkle, ABC song, Incy Wincy Spider, Little Einstein song
• Able to count from 1 to 12
• Able to identify most colours
• Able to identify most alphabets
• Able to read a few words like dog, cat, duck, frog, horse, pig, chicken, Josiah, Mommy, Daddy, Thomas, Percy, star, car, Harold, James.
• Able to do some simple puzzles
• Able to paint and draw and colour quite well

Ahhh....but of course, I must also remember the things he is still struggling with, which includes:

• Not able to walk down steps on his own, he can walk up with help
• Not able to jump or climb too well
• Not able to feed himself with a spoon properly
• Not able to remove his socks or shoes on his own
• Not able to eat pasta, pizza, most veggies and fruits
• Not potty trained

I am looking forward to his independence which I think will improve when he starts nursery in September. He will be going for 3 mornings and although it will be a welcome break for me, I am honestly dreading that day. I want my freedom yet don't want to be away from him. Get it? Nope....well, I don't get it too. Such a strange mix of feelings which I believe only another full time SAHM will understand.

Does he miss his baby stuff too?

Josiah in Prague

Potty time! Day 1

Alas, I succumbed to pressures from everyone to start potty training. I am not bothered that Josiah is still in diapers, come on, he is only 2.... what's the hurry? My parents, in-laws, friends and even Shaun has been pestering me about it. To me, being potty trained is not as cut out as a lot of people think. People think that once the child is potty trained, then they don't have to change nappies anymore. But from what I observed, once potty trained, you'd have to bring even MORE stuff. From travel potty, to change of clothes - and not to mention those crazy, stressful moments when you are on the train and the kid suddenly wants to go potty....!!!#&**!!



At the moment, Josiah gets a change of diaper in the morning after he poos. Then another one in late afternoon and one before sleep. No fuss, no mess....I can go out with him the whole day without having to keep track of time because I know he has a diaper on. Without the diaper, the onus is on the parent to remind the child if he/she wants to go potty. Then parent (usually the mother) will have to find toilet and bring child to toilet quickly. How stressful is that? Add to that the scenario when an "accident" occurs when you are outside. Goodness me, I would be throwing out a lot of pants at this rate because I cannot imagine having to wash out poo from his pants. Blech....yucks....can I delegate this portion of motherhood to anyone else? Anyone else??? Help!!!



Back to Josiah's potty training, we started out with me putting him on potty. He sat for 5 minutes and then wriggled to get out despite me trying to keep him on longer. He proceeded to wet his pants 5 minutes later. After a change, I reminded myself to ask him to go potty in another 15 minutes, but he had another wet pants before then. By lunchtime, he'd wet 4 pair of pants and had one tantrum because I was asking him to sit on the potty. I also had to ban him from sitting on the sofa or our bed - see how cruel this potty training is..... Mental note to myself to get some blankets for the sofa. Sigh. I am not happy at all.


Just before his nap, I put a nappy on and all was well for the rest of the evening. Shaun is not well and I just couldn't cope with two upset boys. Will try again tomorrow morning.


The upside to this exercise: Saved ONE piece of nappy today. Yay. =.=

Wordless Wednesday: Josiah is 2.5 years old!

Perfect

With Shaun's parents here, our life has significantly improved, in fact, is close to perfect. Josiah is having a lovely time with his Grandpa and Grandma, Mummy is getting a break for Josiah and Daddy is free to do anything when he gets home from work.

The question is now, with all the free time, what happened to the blog? No post since June....

Well.....the answer in two words : SUMMER SALES

We have been out shopping almost every other day, scouting for bargains and indulging in some well earned retail therapy. All the boys in the household suffer from the retail therapy in their own ways.

Shaun is getting poorer everyday but at least he is not being dragged around looking at clothes, kitchenware and shoes. shoes. shoes.... In fact, he is probably the least affected, managing to escape this shopping horror by staying in the office earning more money for me :)

Grandpa is by far the most worst off - having to follow the ladies around, helping with carrying stuff, then being left to entertain Josiah whilst we shop and then having to pay for the damages. Not very nice.

Meanwhile, Josiah learnt early on how to deal with this whole shopping ordeal by asking for milk the moment we get into a shopping place and settling in his buggy with his favourite "chow chow" cloth and daydreaming of a better place. Possibly a better mother too.

Food Gallery : The Improvement

More dishes from my kitchen............




I think this looks like "left-over night" with the only fresh food being the fried egg ;)

We had a couple over who were previously from Middle East and they loved our flat which reminded them of home. And with some Malaysian curry....hmmm.....

Burger again but this time with home made fries....does look a bit burnt - maybe that's why the veggies are hiding it :)

When I got back from holiday - a bunch of apples looked like it was going to go bad so I quickly got some puff pastry and ta-da, some home made apple puff

My all time favourite - curry noodles with fish cake and "tau pok"

Roti canai and curry chicken...of course the roti is the frozen type!

Pancakes from Nigella Lawson's recipe - this is more like the American type than the crepe-type

Cream mushroom pasta with roast chicken and basil

Guess what is this?

Yes, my very own "siew yok"

Not too bad a wife now, right....heh,heh......

Happy Tuesday all

Food gallery

Those who knows me will know that I am hopeless when it comes to cooking. Having grown up with a maid, then married and moved in with in-laws who had a maid.....get the idea.....

There was 2 years in Australia that I survived mainly through instant noodles and bad, bad cooking. I remember eating breakfast cereal for every meal at one point.

So, when dearest hubby said we'd be living in London one week after I had Josiah. I was too numb to realise how much improvement I needed in terms of my pathetic cooking skills. I had to feed both my boys and myself. So started a painful but exciting journey of culinary delights (or not so delightful! Ask hubby for more honest opinion)

I may not be the best cook around and my menu is not very extensive but for someone who started out barely able to cook rice WITH a rice cooker. Here are some of my accomplishments.

Hee....hee....

Come Dine with Me

:)

Found out early on that roasting chicken was a fail-safe option so we had lots of that in the early days, badly fried veggies were also on my menu most of the time :(

Yikes, check out my version of "ngau hor" or beef hor fun noodles! Looks terrible but hubby says it tastes good. Sigh. Such love.... :)

But don't worry, it got better and with this ensemble of homemade 'char siew', mixed veggie stir fry and omelette.....we started having some actual guests come for dinner. Woo.....

Close up shot of my 'char siew'.... I use a scissors to cut it just like some hawkers in Msia!

Simple pork/beef steak with potato salad and veggies

Home made bacon mushroom carbonara pasta. The sauce is made from scratch from single cream, cheese and lots of bacon! Yummy and unhealthy so this dish has been banned from our menu lately.

Simple hor fun with chicken and yummy 'hock chew' balls (from Msia of course!)

McDonald's the Ow Yang style

......to be continued.....