28 Months Update

2 years, 4 months & 1 week old.....

I have not been doing Ethan's monthly update for quite some time already. Sometimes I feel there is too little to write, hence didn't write anything. Then, sometimes there are just too many things happened in a month and I've lost track, ended up don't know where to start thus no update too. Since Ethan is attending a new school for almost a month now, I thought it's a good talking point for me to start writing.

School
I think he has almost settled down with the new school. In the beginning of the 2nd week, he cried in the morning when I sent him there. Then, towards the end of that week, he was better. One fine night, while tucking him to bed, I talked to him. I asked him what he did at school. Of course, he couldn't answer me. I tried to say something that excites him. So I said 'Ethan sing sing with teacher at school? What Ethan sing? I love you You love me?' He seems to be very interested in that topic. Then I got the hint and told him 'Ethan go to school tomorrow and wait for teacher to sing I love you You love me, ok?'. He replied 'ok', much to my surprise. I said the same thing to him the next morning and it really worked. He didn't cry but reluctantly let me go.

From there on, he cried less and less as the days went by especially towards the end of the week. Today marks the 5th week he attends the new school. I thought it will be a difficult morning as it's a Monday. To my surprise, he asked 'Where Aunty' the moment we entered the school compound and he didn't cry at all. Phew!!!

Emotion/Character
He is definitely a stubborn kid and has been showing a lot of terrible-2 signs. Below are a few that I could recall:

1. He spits at us when we scold him or if he is upset with us. I don't know where he learn this but definitely not from the movie 'Titanic'.
2. He refuses to hold our hand when walking in the mall. He loves to run around and get even more excited if he sees us chasing after him. At times, I just wanted to shout 'ETHAN JAMES....STOP!!!!!!!!!!' and let all the people stare at me like a maniac. Even if we managed to make him hold our hands, he will not walk properly. It's either he walks slanted or he walks very fast and suddenly kneel down as if doing a dance move.
3. He wants to push the trolley or pram instead of sit on them. He can't control the direction of the trolley/pram and will only stop when it hits on things. This is scary especially if we are at a crowded area or glassware section.
4. He is short but insisted to hold on to the escalator hand rail. At first he wanted us to carry him so he can hold the railing but now, he can touch it if he tip toed.
5. Refuses to say sorry when we ask him to do so after he did something wrong, as if he knows that if he says sorry means he admits his fault.

Vocabulary
He can count from 1-10 and sings the alphabet song (from a-g then the wrods starts to jumble up).

He can string words now. The best phrase is 'I don't want'. Other common phrases are:

1. Where Daddy go?
2. Why so dark?
3. Why so dirty?
4. Who do this?
   
5. I want go kai-kai
6. I want poh-poh, ah yee, mei-mei.
7. I want eat chicken (all types of meats are chicken to him)
   

I like it when he says 'I want.....I want........' with his eyes looking around as if he's really thinking on what he wants.

There was one incident when he asked daddy to open up a can of Playdoh for him, he told Daddy 'Cannot eat ar'. I told him that earlier and looks like he picked it up fast.

He will look for excuses instead of saying 'No' when he dislikes something, e.g.:
Mummy: Tomorrow Mummy and Daddy go to work, Ethan goes to school ok?
Ethan: Aunty go home edi, bye bye Aunty edi.

Potty Training
He is diaperless at home and school except during nap and sleeping time. However, he seldom pee on the diaper during nap time. I think he's ready to nap without diaper but I need to find something to cover the mattress first, just in case. Any suggestion?

We still put him on diaper when we go out to the mall. Last weekend when we were at the mall, he told us he wanted to poo so we rushed to the kid's loo. I laid wet tissues on the seat and put him there but he can't do it. So we went for lunch and after eating, he again told us he wanted to poo. Again, it was a futile effort. Luckily the toilet was clean and since it's a kid's toilet, both parents are allowed in and we took turn to hold him. I don't know how to handle him alone in the ladies.

Diet
He had his first taste of ice-cream on 2 September, when he was 27 months old. The first thing he said was 'Nice'.

His diet didn't change much as he still prefer rice and noodles with soup. Still dislikes vegetables and western food espcially bread. French toast is an exception.

For fruits, banana is his no. 1 favourite. I always call him 'Ma-lao' (monkey in Cantonese) when I'm upset with him.

Favourite toys/game
Guitar and gun. Loves to play 'bang bang' with us. How to play? He points the gun at us and say 'bang bang' and we pretend to be frightened.

He loves to sing too and when he sings, only he can sing, no one else should open their mouth. All we can do is clap hands after he finishes.

(Photo taken on 1 August 2008 during
my mum's birthday celebration.
We gave him a broken mic to play with
and the poor boy sang his heart out)

Movies
He has watch a few movies with us at home from the beginning to the end. He seems to be absorbed in the movie at certain points. We have watched cartoons and thrillers together. Just last night, we watched 'Black Water' together, a thriller on crococile attack. It cracked us up when he suddenly asked 'Where uncle go?' after the man was dragged down the water by the killer crocodile.