Missing “home”

Although Bryan is very comfortable in the new house, he is missing our old apartment too. There has been many times that he tells me to “Go Home” and “New house …mai.”

Yesterday, we took him shopping at Giant after dinner. He asked me to buy some Calsiyum yogurt and I told him he can have it once we reach home. He was ok about it.

As hubb was driving into our neighbourhood, he realized that we are going to our new home and he started whining in the car…

Bryan: ”New house, mai mai. Tak tak chien, mai mai (big house no, no)”
Mummy: New house hau (new house is good)…Got Star light, got star fish, got Nemo, got aircon.

Luckily he calmed down after hearing that.

Another incident
A few nights ago, as I was tucking him to bed. He suddenly sat up and said,
Bryan: Mummy…Huei chia sui chiau (go home to sleep)
Mummy: You can sleep here. Sleep at new house
Bryan: New house..mai mai. Huei Chia Huei Chia
Mummy: Huei Chia mei you air con (There is no aircon at old house)
Bryan: *lies back down to his bed* Suei chiau (sleep)

***********

We have decorated his room with some of his favourite items. He has a new bedsheet which have cartoon characters of the different sea creatures – Clown fish, star fish, octopus, crab, sea shells, etc…all the creatures that he recognizes.

We also installed a dimmer light in the shape of a star..one of his favourite shapes. And we have Winnie the Pooh border sticker all around his room.

And another incentive is…there is an aircon in his new room. His old room does not have the aircon, but we do get very good air circulation since our apartment unit is not directly facing another building that may block the wind. But Bryan enjoys cool temperature so he loves having an air con in his room.

I am glad that we took a little effort to decorate the room to his interest, and that helped to make the transition easier.

But it still tugs at my heart each time i hear him say, “Huei Chia”…. I wonder when he will associate the new house as his real “home”

*P/s: No pics coz my sis borrowed my camera. Will update when my camera is back*

Last batch of diapers

This is the stash of diapers I washed last week, and I hope they are the last that I will wash for Bryan.

I normally wash Bryan’s laundry once or twice weekly. It turned to a daily affair when I started using cloth diapers 3 months ago. But about 1.5 month ago, it turned to a 3 times weekly affair when Bryan is toilet trained when he is awake after he turned 2.

And about a month ago, he stopped wetting his diapers even during his afternoon nap. And for the last few weeks, I have not had any soiled diapers over the night as well. Bryan would often wake us up in the middle of the night to pee. And if he doesn’t, there will be a lot of pee in the morning.

And this little boy tends to drink a lot of water right before he goes to sleep. He will get his 8 ounce of milk and he will go to bed with his water tumbler next to him. He has a habit of gulping down a lot of water before he is ready to fall asleep. So even though he empties his bladder before he sleeps, he will wake up in the middle of the night to pee. So we were a bit hesitant even though his record is getting pretty good.

But, we’ve got to start somewhere. So starting 2 weekends ago, I actually let him go diaperless during his afternoon nap – So far so good.

And since I am getting tired of washing clean dry diapers, I decided to not let him wear diapers. It is much more comfortable for him and more convenient for us to help him pee in the middle of the night anyway. Another reason, we were moving to our new house and we will be throwing Bryan’s existing mattress away. So if he does soil it…it doesn’t really matter.

So far, it has been almost 1 week of diaperless nights, and Bryan has a clean record every night!

The first night we stayed at our new house, we let him wear diapers. I was afraid that he may not be accustomed to the new environment. But he adjusted just fine and he was off diapers the 2nd night onwards.

I know some moms may be envious that Bryan can stay dry through the night but honestly, this is not something that I had planned to happen. It just happens! I do not have any toilet training recipe. The kid will let us know when he is ready. My mom tried to train him from a young age, and it was a frustrating time for her. I tell my mom to just give it up and let him wear diapers. Less stress on him and on us also. And suddenly one day, he seems ready to be toilet trained.

So here’s for the record – Bryan is officially off diapers, day and night, at 26 months old!

In fact, I had secretly hoped that he will pee in his diapers so that he can sleep through the night. Now, neither he nor we sleep through the night because he needs to pee.

I guess moms are a hard to please group *chuckle*

Driving mummy nuts

I had to take Bryan alone to his Tumble Tots session on Sunday as hubb had to be at the new house to receive some of our new furniture. The furniture were supposed to be delivered on Saturday afternoon, but the shop found that our dining table top had scratches just before he delivered our orders. So he ordered a new one from his supplier and it had to be delivered from KL. So there was a one-day delay to our delivery.

Anyway, the furniture is supposed to be delivered before Bryan’s Tumble Tots session is over. And if the session was over before hubb could come back for us, I will just take Bryan over to the nearby Queensbay mall (QBM) to keep him occupied.

Anyway, the furniture arrived late (as usual la). The lorry did not arrive even after Bryan’s Tumble Tots session is over. So I decided to let Bryan have his lunch first while waiting for hubb.

As usual, Bryan is very happy to go to QBM and he asked to go to McD (as usual, again). Since I am alone, I prefer to take him to a place that he enjoys, so off to McD we go.

I ordered a Happy Meal for him (excluding the toys) for him which consists of nuggets, steamed corn and soya bean milk without ice. And I got a free French fries from Bryan’s McD card. I found a table nearby and settled down to start to feed Bryan.

Unfortunately Bryan does not seem very interested in the food. He is only interested in the drink, which he calls “Nenneno, nen-nen” (Mcd Milk). And long later, he told me he wants to pee. *roll eyes*

But I am not worried, I have a disposable cup with cover with me, and I can let him pee into the cup. So I removed him from his highchair, and set him down to the floor and ask him to pee.

Then he said, “ Mei You Siau Pian” (No pee) and he wants to return to his seat. *really kacau la this boy*

So I continued to feed him bits of nuggets and corn while he sips away at his soybean milk.

After that hubb called me to update me about the furniture delivery, and at the same time, Bryan said, “Mommy, pangsai, pangsai” *OMG* Now this boy wants to shit instead. So I told hubb to quickly settle the furniture and come over.

Bryan’s food is less than half completed, so I had no choice but to pack everything up in his Happy Meal box and rush him to the nearest toilet.

How do you let a toddler pangsai in a public toilet? Well, I carried him over the toilet bowl. And I am 8 months pregnant! Boy was it tiring! Luckily he finished his business quickly. Once he is done he will tell me to wipe his bottom, “Mommy, mei you le. Chak pi ku” (mommy, no more, wipe my bottom).

So we went out and I carried him over the wash basin to wash his hands with soap. And as I was washing his hands, I heard the cleaner remarked “Ada orang lagi ah….” but I paid no notice to her as I was busy with Bryan.

Later only did I know why she made the remark. When I walked Bryan out of the toilet, I realized that they had closed the whole section off. They had put down the metal gate (the shop lot type one) and now there is no way for us to go out. The gate is very heavy, and I do not dare to lift it up in my present state. So I had no choice but to go back to the toilet and asked the cleaning lady to help me open the gate.

Once we were freed, I asked Bryan if he wants to finish his meal at McD. He said yes. Luckily we are still able to find a table and so we settled down to continue Bryan’s meal. But all these activities have probably made Bryan lose interest in his food. He started rejecting his food, and starts spitting out everything that I put in his mouth. *geram-nya*

Not long after that, hubb called to say that he has arrived but there is a long queue at the carpark. So he asked me to pack everything up and meet him outside the mall.

So I pack everything up AGAIN, and told Bryan that we are leaving. And you know what this boy tells me? “Wo hai yau shopping.” (I still want to shop). So imagine, I had to now drag (well, almost) the toddler out of the mall.

It was a relief to see hubb’s car outside the mall, and I told hubb, “He is yours now…you take care of him.” The last 2.5 hours have been just too tiring for me.

New house is almost ready!

It’s been a quiet week at this blog but certainly not a quiet week for Bryan.

It’s been a very busy week for us. Firstly, our new house is almost ready. All the renovations are complete and the new furniture delivered last weekend. Now, I have to worry about moving the rest of the things over. And I am getting a headache just thinking about it. Luckily, we are not moving most of the old furniture, otherwise, even bigger headache. Our priority are to get most of our things into boxes by this week as we are planning to have the mover coming over on Saturday.

In fact, we will be spending our first night at the new house this Friday. Why? Coz hubb asked his fren to check for good dates and this Friday is a good date wor… Anyway, the furniture in the master bedroom is ready, so we can all sleep there. Bryan will have the rest of his things moved in on Saturday but I think he will not miss most of them. I just have to make sure that I have his favorite toys and books available on Friday night.

In fact, Bryan is already quite used to the new house. I am happy to say that he loves the house. He calls it “New House.” He had always have fun exploring the house and is fast mastering the skills of getting up and down the stairs by himself. He is now mastering the skill of climbing up the door grills *pengsan*

He loves showering at the new house and is constantly asking us to let him shower in his new bathroom. And he has even napped in the new house last Sunday afternoon. He was so possessive of the room that he refused to let anyone else but me into the room when he was ready to nap, not even my mom and dad. My mom tried to enter, and he pushed my mom out, saying “Mai, mai. ” And when my mom tried to insist, he kicked his leg at my mom. (Alamak, first it is just hitting people, now kicking too….). Where he learnt the kicking from? From the tv la, what else? There was a TV trailer for America’s Funniest Home Video or something that kept showing clips of people kicking people with people laughing at the background…. My son is really watching too much tv.

P/s: I have not been taking a lot of photos of Bryan lately because it is almost impossible to take his photos/ videos. Everytime he sees the camera, he’ll say, “chik-chak, chik-chak” and he wants to grab the camera. If we gave it to him, he’ll demand to see his photos/ videos in the camera. So how to take photo ah like that?

Mommy’s little bodyguard

I am pleased to say that Bryan is extremely protective of me.

Scenario 1
I was having a joke with hubb and he slapped my hand in jest. Bryan seeing that, starts to get angry. And starts crying “MAI MAI MAI” (no, no, no) as if his dad had really hit me.

Later, hubb tried to repeat the scenario to see how Bryan would react. It was almost Bryan’s bed time and we were all in Bryan’s bed playing with Bryan. Suddenly, hubb slapped my hand.

Bryan got really quiet, then he stared at his dad….

Guess what he did next….he lunged forward and gave his daddy a painful bite on his hand.. hahahaha

Scenario 2
It was a working morning. And I was rushing to get things ready for work and I accidentally knock my foot against a chair. I went “OUCH” and sat down to inspect the damage.

Bryan saw that I was hurt and started crying,..” Mommy, mai –mai”. I guess he meant, “Mommy, don’t be hurt”

So I had no choice but to pretend that everything is all right.

Scenario 3
He is pretty rough with his daddy. Maybe because his daddy plays rough with him all the time, and I don’t. He’ll bite, knock, hit, slap and cubit his dad, during play time, or when he is angry with his dad. And my little boy is developing quite a temper.

If his daddy says anything that he doesn’t like, he will hit and slap his daddy.

Last weekend, we were at the mall, and we were at the light bulbs section. Hubb was looking for some bulbs for our new house. Bryan was walking around inspecting the goods there, then he spotted the round fluorescent lamp and he wanted to play with it. He thinks it is some kind of steering wheel and he wants to turn and turn it.

I was afraid that he may break it, so I told him “No” – Gently at first and when the gentle warning don’t work, a little harsh.

Needless to say, he got angry and he actually hit my hand.

Bryan: *got angry* TA (beat) Mommy!!!
Mommy: You dare to TA MOMMY?? *Show angry face*
Bryan: *Starts crying loudly* and starts hitting his own hand against the railing* – self punishment I guess, or anger at not being able to release it on me.

Scenario 4
Hubb and I was talking about something, and I got upset about what he said. It wasn’t anything serious but I told hubb not to say things like that.

Bryan, sensing that I was angry with hubb, walked over to his daddy, and slapped him in the face.

Then he came running to me saying, “Mommy sayang…” and quickly hugged me. So that I will protect him from his daddy in case daddy got mad.

Hahaha…see if hubb dare to make me angry in the future some more. I’ve got his son on my side…Muahahahaha

*****
NOTE: We know that it is wrong for Bryan to hit anyone. And we are trying our best to teach him that you do not hit people just because you do not like something they do or say.

And I must praise hubb for being so patient with Bryan. Even though, Bryan is pretty “abusive” to him sometimes, he does not get mad.

We just have to be patient and consistent in our message and hopefully Bryan will learn to control his emotions.

Toddler looking for work

Bryan is very attached to me now. Not sure if it is because of my pregnancy or because he is getting more mature.

Anyway, he understands that if mommy has to work, mommy has to leave him at po-po’s place. Though he loves being at po-po’s place, he does not want to be separated from mommy.

He knows that is a work day as I would have changed my clothes by the time he wakes up. And when he saw that I have, he’ll say,

So anyone wants to hire a cute toddler?

Claypot Chicken

After my success with the ABC pasta chicken stew, next up – Claypot chicken rice. WhoIsBaby posted a easy to follow chicken rice recipe and I decided to try that.

I followed her steps with the following variation.

1. I added sesame oil and more dark soy sauce to my chicken marinade
2. I added sesame oil, a few cloves of crushed garlic and a few slices of ginger into the rice while cooking.
3. To serve, I added not only cilantro (coriander) but also chopped spring onions and salted fish flakes. Bryan did not have any of the salted fish though.

Hubb loves this dish and needless to say, Bryan too! Any lesson learned? Of course.

Hubb’s first complaint – The claypot is darn hard to wash. The rice is really hard at the bottom of the claypot and he had a hard time scrubbing it clean even after soaking it for a long time. So his advice is – it’s ok to be less authentic. Just use the rice cooker next time. .

Second complaint – cook more next time. He doesn’t mind having it for both lunch and dinner. Afterall, Bryan did

Chicken vege stew with ABC pasta

Bryan gets wholesome home cooked meals whenever he is at my mother’s place during the workday. But during the weekend, he eats whatever we eat, and in most case may not be the healthiest choices for a toddler.

So lately, after a long break, I decided to make sure that he gets at least 1 homecooked meal a day during the weekends. Usually I will try to cook more for lunch and he can have the leftover for dinner. And if hubb and I decided to eat out, he can and will always steal some of our food, or I can always order something light for him to nibble on while we have our food.

Bryan is getting very choosy over his food now. He no longer enjoy simple bland healthy baby food. He enjoys variety not just in flavor but in sight as well. So what did I prepare for him lately?

#1: Chicken vege stew with ABC pasta
Chicken stew has always been a favorite dish of mine. It is a complete meal on its own and is so simple to prepare.

Ingredients
Deboned, de-skinned chopped chicken thigh meat, marinated with light & dark soy sauce, pepper and a little flour
Chopped garlic
Carrots
Potatoes
Tomatoes
Onions
Flour to thicken the soup

Steps
1. Stir garlic in oil till fragrant
2. Add in chicken and stir fry for a short while
3. Add in the vegetables and add just enough water to cover all the ingredients
4. Cook in small fire till all ingredients are cooked.
5. When almost done, mix a bit of flour in water and add it to the simmering soup to thicken it up.

For Bryan, I separately boiled some ABC pasta and serve it with the chicken stew. To make the dish more interesting, I cut the carrots into flower shapes. Yeah, I need to practice on my food carvings.

Result….Bryan says my dish is YUMMY!!! And he proved it by asking not for 1 but 2 refills! That’s definitely the sign of a yummy meal to him.

It is so good, he can’t have it fast enough so he need 2 spoons for it! LOL