Happenings in May

3 years, 11 months, 2 weeks & 6 days old.....

On Ethan:

His Birthday:
He's turning 4 next Saturday. This year, it will be the simplest celebration. It gets simpler and simpler every year. We will buy a cake for his small little party at school on Friday. He told me months ago that he wanted a "BIG....Ben-10 cake" for his birthday. I asked him "must be big? cannot buy a small one?". He said cannot, his friends do not like small cake. Kids nowadays are so demanding. I don't know how big is big and how small is small. Whatever it is, it has to be Ben-10 la. Then, the three of us will celebrate his birthday on Saturday. Mum and sis can't join coz sis just had a baby girl and mum is helping out, so no celebration for them wor. Probably just dinner with a candle blowing session and a present. We're thinking of a bicycle. I want it to be a surprise for him but don't know where to hide the bike and when to buy it. Furthermore, I have to go outstation next Wednesday to Friday. We have to figure this out.

Sleeping on his own:
We have planned to move him into his own room but every time we discussed that, he got all teary and upset. Hubby said wait until end of the year wor...

Diaperless:
Some updates from the previous posts, he is diaperless now, day and night. The first few weeks were difficult as we had to bring him to the toilet in the middle of the night. There will be 3-4 'accidents' in a week in the beginning but it reduced week by week. I think it took him around 3-4 months to be totally 'accident-free'. We still have to make sure that he has his last round of milk one hour before bed time and clear his bladder before sleep. Otherwise, we have to bring him to the toilet in the middle of the night.

Brought him to watch Toy Story I & II on 25 April 2010.
The movies lasted for 3 hours and the cinema was
freezingly cold. My fingers were all numb
after the movie ended.

A video of him doing his silly dance

On Mummy:
I have just completed the 2nd semester of my study. It has been almost a year since I "dig this big hole and jumped into it". Hopefully I can complete it by end of this year or latest by mid of next year. I presented my proposal to the examiner on 7th May and the preparation was tough. I have 3 supervisors and each of them has different opinions. I can't fulfill everything they asked me to do but just did what I thought was right. I arranged for a mock presentation on 6th May, a day before the actual day and 2 of the supervisors were present. I got shot by them left, right and centre. That made me very down. It seemed like whatever I have done was rubbish. I went home and corrected my presentation, read up whatever I need to read, went through the slides again and again and pray for the best. Still, I couldn't slept well that night as I was too nervous and worried that I couldn't answer the examiners' questions. Went to bed after 1 a.m. that night, rolled around for at least another 30 minutes and woke up at 6a.m., before the alarm went off. I arrived at the campus one hour before the presentation starts and went through the slides again in the car for another 30 minutes.

While I was going through the slides, mum called and told me sis has just delivered a baby girl by C-sec. She was overdue by a week and I was happy to hear that both mum and baby are safe. After the phone call, I went up to the meeting room and waited anxiously for the presentation to start. I was the 2nd presenter. All my 3 supervisors said they will come and they didn't turn up until the first presentation started. I tried to relax and listened to what the first presenter had to say but the more I listened the more nervous I got, so I looked away, kept my mind blank and and tried to think of other things.

My time came, so I did what I had to do. Each of us were given 30 minutes for the presentation and Q&A. The first presenter stood up during the whole presentation but I knew I had to sit down coz my legs will be wobbly. If they ask me to stand, I will tell them frankly that I will be more stable sitting down. I think I finished my presentation within 15 minutes. After countless questions, I looked at my watch and there was still 10 minutes to go. Gosh, that moment seemed like forever. The examiners asked so many questions and gave some not so important comments. There was a question, which I couldn't really answer. Thank God, one of my supervisors backed me up but in the end, the 3 of them were arguing among themselves on my research. I still think I was lucky because all of them showed their support and turned up. I noticed most of the supervisors were not there and their students had to fend for themselves.

After the presentation at 10 a.m., I had a long discussion with my supervisors. Two of them left after 1 hour and I continued with the other one until 1 p.m. I had initially plan to go for a pampering session after the presentation but my head was pounding by noon, so I decided to go home and rest. Went home to sleep and less than 15 minutes in dreamland, hubby called and woke me up. After that, I couldn't sleep anymore and decided to pick mum up and visit sis at the hospital. We were greeted by this little cutie pie....

My 'just arrived' niece

Diaperless At Night

3 years, 4 months, 4 weeks & 1 day old.....

What happen when you run out of diapers at home? Normally, we will rush out to buy a packet, no matter what. But not this time. We ran out of diapers on Sunday night but were tooooo lazy to go out. Also, I was having migrain since Friday night. So, I really didn't feel like going out. I told hubby that we might try and train Ethan to sleep without diaper. I noticed that sometimes he did not wet his diaper throughout the night and I thought that maybe we can give it a try.

We have taken some precautions. First of all, get him to clear his bladder after milk, before bed time. Secondly, I put a cloth napkin inside his brief, just in case. Thirdly, put the changing mat covered by another layer of cloth on the bed, again, just in case.

The first two nights went by without a hitch. No soiled napkin. Third night...well.....we were not as lucky. I woke up at 5a.m. (which is this morning) and found that he has wet his pants. So, I got to get up and change him. When he woke up, I told him that he shh shh (pee) in his pants, he angrily replied me with a "No!". Ok, I got it. He doesn't like it so I just cut it and changed the topic.

I think (women think a lot and always do the thinking, don't you agree?) he didn't wet his pants on the first two nights because he slept late and woke up early. We slept around 10p.m. last night, which was slightly earlier and maybe he couldn't hold it that long. Hmmmmm......what to do tonight? Perhaps get him to drink his milk half an hour before bedtime and clear his bladder just before bedtime. By that, hopefully all his milk will be cleared from his bladder.

Potty Training: Part 3

2 years, 1 month, 2 weeks & 3 days old.....

The potty training was put on hold after the previous attempts failed. The method I used was a total failure. It gave Ethan the wrong signal. He associates potty to playing water. I can't remember exactly when I stopped training him. The two potties were lying there ever since.

4 July 2008 (Saturday)
While me and sis were at yoga class, mum took care of Ethan and my niece. She later told me that she took off his diaper and told him to tell 'poh poh' when he needs to 'shee shee' (pee). He didn't wet his pants in the first 30 minutes. Then, mum wanted to bathe him so she stripped him naked and asked him to pee first. He did it!! which means he can control his bladder quite well now and he can understand it when we ask him to pee.

5 July 2008 (Sunday)
I've decided to restart the potty training. So on Sunday morning, I followed the same method that mum used. I took off his diaper and put his pants back on. Hubby asked why? I said it's time to train him. He has poo-ed the night before so it's very safe to do it early in the morning. The first 30 minutes went by just fine. I asked him every 15 minutes if he wants to pee and he said 'don't want'. Then we bathe him and he peed before and after shower. We let him diaperless after shower too.

He was playing in the living area while hubby and myself were getting ready in the room. We wanted to go out to the mall. We got changed and it's time to change the little one. It was barely 20 minutes after the shower. As I walked out of our room, I found Ethan standing still outside the room, staring at me. Then, I saw little brown dropping on the floor. My eyes followed the trail. As my sights went further down the trail, my CURIOSITY was killed by HORROR!!! THERE'S A PILE OF POO ON THE FLOOR!!!!!!!

I think I screamed after that. Yeah.........I must have screamed. Otherwise hubby won't come out and asked what happened. I told him "You see lar". He saw it and was stunned too. The three of us didn't move an inch but just looking at each other especially Ethan who hasn't move ever since he saw me. He looked so blur.

I wasn't angry at all that moment. Just felt like crying. Hubby asked me "What to do now?" and I told him instantly "You clean Ethan and I'll clean the floor". After all, it's my 'brilliant idea' to start the whole thing, so I should be cleaning up the mess too. He took off his pair of jeans and scooped Ethan up the floor. I grabbed the wet tissue and started the tedious process while holding my breath. I mopped the floor too. Geeeeeezzzz..........already sweating before we step out of the house.

6 July 2008 (Monday)
Still very determined to continue with potty training, I let Ethan go diaperless in the evening after shower. I asked him "Ethan, you want to shee shee?" 15 minutes after that and he said "want ar" and looked delighted too. I don't know why he looked delighted but quickly took out his potty and took off his pants. He peed for the first time in the potty after 3 days!! I felt some great sense of achievement after that and proud too.

After finished, he insisted of holding the potty and said "thow" (throw). I was worried that he'll spill the content of the potty. He was very persistent so I let him carry the potty to the bathroom. I just helped him to carry the potty and guided him to the right direction. I didn't tell him anything but, he emptied the potty on the W.C. by himself. Hmmmmm.........how he knows about it??? Could be the daycare but I haven't ask.

I repeated the same question every 15 minutes and he will pee in it without fail. He seems to be enjoying the process of peeing and emptying the potty. By 8.30 p.m., I got tired of cleaning his potty and changed him into PJ and put on his diaper. Phew!!!!! No accident.

7 July 2008 (Tuesday)
We repeated the same thing but this time, Daddy helped too. He wet his pants once but I still considered it a good start to a veeeeery looooooong process.

Potty Training: Part 2

17 months, 1 week & 1 day old.....

We went to My Dear warehouse sale over the weekend and bought a potty for Ethan. It looks similar to the one from Graco shown in my previous post but has less feature. The seat cannot be removed from the potty to be put on the WC. They have at least 10 types of potty in the warehouse but none has a removable seat. So, we chose one that looks like a chair. Actually, hubby made the selection and I'm ok with it. We also bought a safety gate since I have to return the current one to my sister sooner or later. Oh ya! the potty was selling at RM39 only, after discounts.

I let Ethan to sit on it but as usual he can't sit still. The only way I can make him sit longer is to let him play in the bathroom. So, once I know he has started to poo, I stripped him off except with the diaper on and put him on the potty. He cannot tell us yet when he wants to poo so the only way we can find out is from his expression.

He can sit on the potty as long as the water from the tap is running. Hubby thought I was crazy when I asked him to give me the camera and took photos of Ethan sitting on a potty.

From the look on his face, you can tell Ethan thought I'm crazy too.

P/S: Thanks to Sasha for the lovely animation!

Potty Training

17 months & 4 days old.....

I’ve just started to potty train Ethan at home. I know many kids are fully potty trained by now and their mothers are very proud of their kids. Well, I would be proud too. I cannot explain why I didn’t start to potty train him earlier but I guess it’s still not too late to do it now. Probably, I’m one lazy mum. I think potty training requires a lot of patience and discipline. But I’m ready to do it now.

My mum bought a potty for Ethan when he was a new born. So, I use that for the time being. Whenever he poops, I will quickly put him on the potty and let him finish his business. The first time I put him on the potty, he refused to sit on it, even with the diaper on. After a few times, he can sit longer but needs to be distracted and the ideal place to do that is in the bathroom. He likes to go in there because he will think it’s shower time. Yeah, he loves shower very very much. I let him sit on the potty with the diaper on mainly because there’s no point taking it off when it’s already soiled and I dread to clean the poop-smeared-potty.

The current potty is getting a bit too small for Ethan. I’ve been looking for a potty, which can be used for longer term. I went to many online baby stores, be it local or overseas, and I found the type that I want to buy. It’s potty + stepstool + removable seat like the one shown below (from Graco). I especially like the removable seat, which I can put on the WC when Ethan is older. If you are not sure which type of potty to buy, I suggest you read up some guide for potty training and important features of a potty.