Naughty Corner

Please pardon the mess on the bed


We started the "face the wall " punishment for him recently for naughty act like throwing things on the floor, spatting of saliva and the list goes on..

We were taught by my cousin to keep putting him back to the same position and not say a word if he walks away from the naughty corner.

So Kevin and I just talked and ignored him.. After 2 minutes, we will get him to say sorry and let him off.

We will give him a hug and explain to him why we are doing this.

Change in preferences & behavioural

I realised that ever since Dillion hit the half-way mark to 2year old..there had been some changes in his food preferences and his behavioural. Coupled with his molar eruptions, Terrible 2 Syndrome.. yada yada.. It been a hell of time with him, understanding his needs, wants, whine, tantrums..

Food preferences
I'm disappointed that my once non-fussy boy has start to show dislike for some food like for instance:
Cheese, tomatoes and apple slices (he is ok with pureed apple)
In order to let him have added calcium, i had to add cheese into his oatmeal with pureed apple or spread jam over the cheese cube on his bread.

Eating habit
Recently, D been eating much lesser. Sometimes he only manage to finish half a bowl or porridge and will spit out when he is full instead of clamming his mouth like he used to.
And is driving me up the wall because its messy.. I hope that this is poor appetite due to teething.

Potty training
D starting to protest when i bring him to his potty during diaper change. He cried, struggled.. simply refused to sit. He will only do so when I catch him in better mood.

Refusal
He shake his head whenever we say Bath time, wash face, brush teeth.. He will whine and we have to everything fast. And he will cling on to us during shower which puzzled us as he used to love bathing.

Possession of things
He wants to grab hold of things he sees and refused to get distracted by other stuffs. He ends up throwing tantrums and won't stop crying until he gets it.

Sleepless nights
D been waking up crying for past few nights due to teething and making us so zombified every morning due to lack of sleep. And its always a guessing game on whom he wants us to carry. If he prefer Daddy then he would not allow mummy to take over and vice versa.

We hope this is just a phase and once all his teeth are out, our lives will be back to normal.
Dealing and handling a child's tantrums and meltdowns is a test of our patient and a learning experience for us.
We have scolded, beat his hands, let him cry it out for we hope that we can get the Terrible Two syndrome over .. but I read that we still have to deal with Terrible Three! *GOOD GRIEF*

Disaster Sunday..

It was a lousy day for us and dillion..
At Coffee Club @Funan
Incident 1:
Service staff was serving our coffee and Dillion went and swipe the coffee off his tray and the hot drink spilled on D's body! We were all panicky.. wiping him down with cold water. The bugger cried for a few minutes probaby due to the shock.
We did not make a fuss with the staff as its obviously not his fault. He felt bad and keep coming to check on us.
Instead we scolded D and were super pissed with him. Thankfully, he was not scalded and the red patch were gone after a while. Can you imagine if the coffee had landed on his face????

Incident 2:
Still in his itchy hand mode.. he went and and almost threw my plate off the table. Kevin was so angry and smacked his hands numerous time and gave a stern warning.
D just look non chanlant at us.. stubbornly refuse to learnt from his mistake.

Incident 3 at home:
Threw the remote controller on the floor at home (he had thrown many other things before that). Got smacked and scolded again by his daddy. THis time even worse.
To ease the tension.. i took the rascal out to my Gramp's place without the daddy.

After all the smacking and scolding.. this rascal did not even cry or repent! Boys will be boys..
End of the day.. we are still a happy family! D was back in his playful mode with his daddy at night. *phew*

Fun @Bath..

Its my day-off from work and was at home the whole morning with D so I let him have some fun in his bath tub which had been chucked aside since we bath him using shower head.

I threw in all his bath toys and fill up with 3/4 of water in the tub:



He had fun splish splashing and would not let me carry him out after 15minutes of water play.
Needless to say, he cried big time with tears rolling down his cheeks!

Random thoughts on..

I spent 3 full days with Dillion and must say this chap zapped me lotsa energy with his everlasting energiser battery.. not forgetting his tantrums and meltdowns he gave us.

Motherhood is not as easy as I thought it would be. I always assume as long as you talk and reason with your child nicely, you will get a nice endings.
Dillion can drive me up the walls at times when he insist on crawling into the kitchen, opening drawers or crawl around the toilet when I'm bathing him. He can never sit still for more than 5 minutes.

I scolded, raised my voice and even beat his hands but it all failed. He is still young to discipline or understand.. but tell me, when will it be the right age?

Nurturing a child needs plenty of patient and effort. Dillion is training me to be one.

Today, he was throwing everything he can grab hold on to the floor in a cafe. I was so pissed and embarrassed and I can't raised my voice or beat his hands in public for fear of being labelled as abusive mum.

On way home.. he cried pitifully when i refused to let him hold on to my ez-link card. I was so numbed to his cries that I ignore him totally. Passer by was giving me this queer look.

I'm always learning and improving to be a better person and to keep my temper in check.

At the end of it all.. i'm glad that my son still loves me as much with all the hugs and laughter we shared.

My son can be an angel at times.. I gave him a stare when he had fun beating my face.. next moment, he laid his head on my shoulder. Gosh.. how not to forgive this boy?

Itchy fingers..

While Kevin and i were looking at menu at Novena's TCC for dinner, i spotted my boy looking down solemnly and i quickly whipped out my camera:


What is he up to? Gosh, he actually removed his left socks and gave me jubilant look


As if its not enough, he even manage to remove his right socks!


He was so bored that he went on to remove his bib


Arrgh.. not sure if this is a milestone or a sign of growing up but i hope he won't do this all the time!

He was not very well-behaved and had a big meltdown that we have to leave the cafe as soon as we finished our food. As he missed his 2nd part of his nap and even rejected his favourite milk and biscuits.

Kitchen paradise..

Recently Dillion loves crawling into the kitchen and will open the drawers and ransack everything out.

I attempted to shut him in the kitchen:


Recently he has even learnt how to open the kitchen door!

Full Monty..

Its not easy getting Dillion to wear his clothes nowadays especially after a fun time at bath. He cringed whenever we attempt to carry him out and he will kick, roll, scream.. if we go near him.

This fellow simply refused to get dressed and even to allow us to put on his diaper.



Thank god for pull up pants to the rescue! Still its a challenge we have gotta face everyday.
Kevin and I have also slapped on his bum as a warning but to no avail as he scream even louder.

Guess, this is just a beginning stage of Terrible Two? *big sigh*

You open, i beat..

While i was washing the plates, Dillion crawled to the kitchen and attempted to open the first aid drawers. This time Daddy was hot on his heels..

When Dillion open the drawers, Daddy raised his hands and said "You open, i beat!" Our defiant son refuse to heed his warning and gamely open the drawers. Then Daddy beat his hands lightly..
I was trying my best not to laugh out lout when Daddy kept threatening repeatedly but to no avail.

It went on for 5minutes till Dillion sat on the floor and cried. Daddy of course gave in and carried him away.

Teething woes

Dillion seem to be showing sign of teething (finally!)as i felt something hard on his central incisor. Been waiting for him to cut a tooth for very long time as he is coming to 1 year old and still toothless.

Anyway.. i can sense that he is not feeling so good as he he just recovered from his flu. He been cranky and sticky to us. When he need to be carried, he will whine or cry till tears start rolling down.

Last night, he woke up at 7am, crying so badly and refused to be put down and would not stop crying even after a milk feed. Feeling so frustrated over a crying baby whom cannot talk and we as a parents can't help him to relieve his pain except to apply teething gel, teething toys and shower more TLC on him.

Since he won't wanna go back to sleep.. i got changed and bought him to the wet market alone and he was back to his cheery mood then as we walked to the bus stop. Sigh.. this boy has got my genes, can't stay at home.

Never enough??

Look closely at the corner of his mouth..
I just fed him abit of my black sesame paste dessert. When i stopped, he cried pitifully:)

A little difficult to handle..

Tell me, why a 9 month old baby is so difficult to handle nowadays??
He will cry on top of his voice when he found himself alone after playing for 10mins, after bath when we are trying to get him dressed, after emptying his milk bottle and still continue to suck air inside.. i swore i have fed him enough.

He is more clingy now.. when he has meltdowns, he would want to be carried and refused to be let down.

Sometimes, Kevin and I have resorted to slapping his thigh for crying as it drives us crazy.

Even his great-grand parents are puzzled why he hates to get changed!

No duckie!

Kevin & I made a painful decision in prohibiting Dillion from playing with his bath duckie. Why painful? Because for the past few incidents, D will cry pitifully when we carry him out of the tub. So we decided to let him have a cooling period first.

When we bath him lately, we noticed that he will look up for his toys above his tub:


We can tell that he misses his friends. We will only let him indulge in this once in a while..

Spoilt brat

Dillion was playing with a toy and i wanted to demo how to play. The moment i lay hands on his toy (not even removing from his hands), he gave a big wail.
Those cry as if one has snatch his toy and ran away.

I was shocked and angry. When did my baby develop this selfish act? When did he mould into this kind of character and showing signs of an only child syndrome and behaviour of a spoilt brat.

Needless to say, i scolded him. This has been on my mind.. I do hope this is just a passing phrase and a normal reaction from a 7month old baby.
If he step into toddler hood, this is to be continue even after countless talking to, I have to say sorry that i will use wooden stick as last resort.

Nobody like it. Even me myself had traumatic experience from it especially when you have scars on your thighs. But this is how we were being brought up in our generations.

Just have to pray hard that my boy will give me an easy time when he grows up.

Flare up

Lately, Dillion will cry when we dress or undress him especially if we caught him in his sleepy or hungry mode.
Few days back, it got on my nerves because i was rushing to change him to go airport that i raised my voice at him.
He kept quiet the very moment and dare not fidget. I hope that i do not have to do this all the time.
I won't wanna be labelled as a 'screaming mummy'

Discipline

I been saying sternly "Why are you screaming? Is there a need for you to scream" for umpteen times at Dillion today.
He is indeed getting on my nerves with this ear-piercing screaming as if he is commanding you to get things done otherwise you will get it from me.

At my grandma place, he screamed at my 5th Aunt for no apparent reason when she was playing with him.
I was so angry so i carried him away and gave him a smack on his bum and he continue screaming.

Or maybe he finally discovered he has got voice?

Some say to talk or reason to them. Yep i did it. I know he is only an infant and does not understand.
I believe in instilling discipline at young age.. as the saying goes "Spare the rod, spoil the child".

I foresee myself canning him (last resort)few years later or when Terrible 2 starts.

No water please!

Dillion hates water! He will leave the teat hanging in the corner of his mouth..

.
He will start making noise and shove the bottle away. He would rather play with the bottle instead


Then he get excited when he sees this:

I need ATTENTION!

Your ah-ma complain to me that you need attention all the time. You always need someone to talk and coo to you. When grand ma walk away to the kitchen to do her stuffs, you start to scream and cry. Will only hush when you see ah ma appear right in front of you! She does not even have time to take a leak.
She say its so tiring talking to you!!

Act Smart

My son's priority is his stomach. So if the bottle is removed from his mouth he will start his mantra.. here he is guarding the milk bottle incase i remove them without his permission.


Yes.. my son is fierce. You can't scold him otherwise he will 'scold' you back in his baby language. Kinda cute at times.