But for the last 2 weeks, Dylan would happily wave bye bye to me no matter who it was at the gate.

I do not dare to blog about this at first, coz scared pantang..but since it has been 2 weeks…I think it is safe to conclude that he is really settled into school.

And yesterday, i was greeted with another good news when i picked him up from school.

He had been diaperless through his afternoon nap and no wee-wee in bed too! It was the first time that the teacher let him nap without diapers and we are happy that it was a successful one too.

Well done Dylan! Keep it up!

When I looked at the photos that i have taken of him recently, he seemed so grown up to me. And growing up so beautifully too. His double eyelids are developing and are making his eyes look so much more bigger, and more beautiful.

Language
He is speaking in sentences now. And surprises us with new phrases & sentences almost daily.

• Yesterday, my sis came without her baby Matthew. Both Bryan and Dylan adores Matthew. When Dylan saw that Matthew did not come, he asked my sis, “Wei sen mo Matthew mei you lai?” (Why Matthew did not come?)
• If anyone hit him, he will complain “xx tah wo. Tong tong.” and points to the area that he was hit.
• He will also complain that “xx huai tan” (xx naughty)
• He can tell between Chinese, Indian or Malay. If he see a young Chinese lady, it will be chie-chie. If Indian or Malay, it will be “kakak.”
• He can also tell between auntie, chie-chie, keke, Ah po, uncle, mei mei, didi
• He can count 1 – 8
• Speaks mostly Mandarin with a few words & phrases in English

Motor skills

• We have started to take him for weekly Tumble Tots sessions and are amazed by how much he is able to do
• He can balance and walk across a 6″ wide wood plank without falling.
• Climb up and over ladders
• Climb up high and jump down onto the mattress
• He can and loves to tumble
• He can skip
• He is beginning to jump with both feet up. Not very high yet, but is getting there.
• He can stand and balance himself on husb’s palm. (yes, husb loves to balance him on his palm – single handed..gotta take a photo of this). He can stay in this way for minutes and enjoy every single moment of it.
• He enjoys playing with the Ikea bead toy. And would count 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8..as he moves the beads.

Social skills

• This boy loves people and is not shy.
• All my mom’s neighbors love him.
• My dad would take him for walks around outside the flat whenever he is free. And if he meet some neighbors that are returning home from grocery trips, they will dig out some treats for Dylan.
• Dad said that one neighbor would even reverse his car, wind down his window and chit chat/ offer treats to Dylan whenever he meet them.
• Yesterday, my parents took him to the supermarket. A stranger had just bought some jelly from a stall. Dylan happens to be nearby. She walks over and starts talking to Dylan and then offers him one of the cups of jelly that she has bought.
• This guy is really a “auntie-magnet”

Sexy sexy baby

Unfortunately, not everything is perfect for Dylan.

He would have been perfect if only he would EAT!

He is a very small eater. A nibble here and 2 nibbles there. He’ll ask for food, but will only take a little at a time. He doesn’t drink much formula milk. He prefers to direct nurse, but I have to be at work.

I am a little worried about his eating habit because he is not gaining much weight. But his PD said that he is healthy though on the small side.

Last week, i got so mad that he won’t eat that I threaten not to take him home. Both hubb and i agreed that he wasn’t eating much because he was waiting for me to come home and bf him.

So we lectured him and told him to eat, or he won’t get to come home.

He ate more, but still not a lot. My parents are pretty tired of him when it comes to feeding time. They have tried everything to get him to eat more..including sitting at the sink and play with tap water while they try to feed him.

How to improve his eating habit? Send him off to school.

Yes, that’s what I’ll be doing. I will be sending him off to playschool with Bryan starting next Monday.

Although Bryan did not really gave me a lot of eating problems when he was a toddler, his eating habits improved a lot once he started school.

Right now, Dylan tells me that he wants to go to school with Bryan. His principle thinks that Dylan will get along fine and won’t cry much, as he is already quite familiar with a few of the teachers there (thanks to the weekend TT sessions). Besides his ge-ge is there and Bryan promised me that he will take care of his didi.

Hopefully, he will settle down really soon.

Dear Dylan, I love you. I just want the best for you. I am sure you will enjoy playschool and will learn so much at school. So don’t cry too much and breaks mommy’s heart ok.

He didn’t liked being in the waters last time, but now he have tons of fun with his brother in the water.

He gets splashed all over by his ger-ger…

But he knows when to pay back too

He was miserable when we took him to the beach last time, but now he loves it.

In fact, he was the first kid in the group to venture into the sea and got himself all wet.

He loves imitating his big brother. So whatever ger-ger do, di-di will also do.

My baby’s really growing up…fast…

Dylan is a real CiliPadi..He is quite small for a 17 month old boy – only slightly above 9kg. But don’t underestimate his small stature. He surprises us all the time with the things he know and understand.

Speaking in short phrases
Wo pu yau.. (I don’t want)
Butterfly fei kau-kau (butterfly fly high high)
Hai yau (want sommo)
Hau chik (yummy)
Daddy/ mummy/ gege/ gong-gong….. suei chiau (…. sleeping)
Mummy/ daddy chu chuo kong (mommy go to work)
Tong tong (pain pain) – when he wants someone to sayang him or when he hurt himself
Che ke huai liao (this one spoil oredi) – so now u know he spoils things all the time

He speaks mostly mandarin but occasionally will surprise us with new phrases in English.

The other day, he was climbing all over the place and hubb grabbed him. He was caught by surprise, so he yelled, “Daddy go away!Daddy go away!”
Another time, I asked him, “Where is daddy?”
He looked at hubb and said, “Daddy here.”

Just like Bryan, he loves music. He can sings “parts” of his (or Bryan’s) favourite songs. And he sings them in tune.
Fly fly fly (..the butterfly)
Row row row (your boat…)
Tom tom bak (Anmum Essential program on Astro Channel 611)
Roary!!! (…the racing car) Roary!!!! (…the racing car)

Besides loving music, we suspect that he has photographic memory too, just like Bryan.

Hubb taught him the names of various animals in a book, and the next night, he could name all of them when hubb randomly turned the pages and pointed it to him. So he can recognize and name many types of animals now.

Love to imitate the Digiman acts in the Digi commercials.

Am super bahlehko to my dad at my mom’s house, and is bahlehko to me when at home.

His trick to bahlehko to me …NEN NEN. Whenever he wants me to carry him, and I ignore him. Or if he thinks hubb is gonna take care of him and I am going somewhere else, he’ll yell, NEN NEN. Coz he knows no one can take over the nennen job from me and I’ll have to do it myself…so he’ll get ME. *cheeky*

He is walking, running, climbing very well.

I have just enrolled him in the weekend TumbleTots session. And after only 2 sessions, he was already able to climb the ladder using his hands & feet.

So now at the children’s playground, he can play the children’s slide – Climb up the ladder and slide down all by himself.

He could also walk up & down (sometimes run) down the slide. According to one of the TT teachers, that is considered very good as none of the other kids in that session could do it. He needs to have very good balancing skills to do that.

True enough, we have always found him to have good balancing skills. Even when he was learning to walk, he seldom have any hard falls.

Now, he loves to wear other people’s shoes. His dad’s, his brother’s, even my high heels. His balancing skill has to be pretty good considering that he could walk around the garden in my heels without falling. Bear in mind, he does have a small stature and he is only 17 months old. Actually he could do that even before he was 17 months old.

Loves to go for walks. At my mom’s house, he’ll take his shoes, position them nicely on the floor and then get climb on top of the sofa. Sat down nicely and then kick his legs around, then yell, “Gong gong…zhou zhou.” (Gong gong walk walk). He’ll throw a tantrum if my dad ignores him.

If my dad let him have his way, he’ll be out of the house 5 mins after he got in. He wants to go out all the time.

So now, my dad have to hide his shoes. No shoes, no zhou-zhou. *poor kid*

He is able to drink from a cup independently now. And when he has had enough, what does he do with the remaining drink? Blow bubbles!!!

Yeah, he’ll be happily blowing bubbles into it, humming and giggling happily. So, we dare not give him too much water/ drink at one time. He won’t make a mess drinking it, but he’ll make a mess blowing it later on. *my cheeky lil fella*

Loves spicy food. He steals my char koay kak, wantan mee with sambal, dips fishball in spicy lok lok sauce, dips his finger in my sambal belacan and lick lick lick…
Eats his rice with curry long beans,

You say la..this boy is cilipadi or not? Small in size but big in accomplishments. I’m so proud of you my dear baby.

Haizz…what do i expect. This lil kiddo is already 15 months. Yeah, I can’t wait for my baby to grow up and yet i feel that he is growing up too fast…

Yesterday, hubb waited in the car while I went upstairs to fetch Dylan from my mother’s house. When he saw me…he said, “Papa there…Papa there”..and pointed to the door.

Hmm…I think he meant “papa where” or he thinks that his papa is outside the house.

Anyway, when we got downstairs, hubb carried him and placed him in the car seat, and he said “Papa papa papa” while patting hubb’s chest.

For a while in the car onwards, all Dylan said was, “papa papa papa” while giggling happily.

I told husb, “Wah, today he very syiok you hor.”

Then soon, it was “Mami, mami, mami”

Husb said, “Your turn now”

After a while hubb and I resumed our regular conversation and ignored our baby at the back. We have not fetch Bryan from school yet. So I guess Dylan was feeling a bit lonely at the back, cause the next thing he said was,

“WOAI, AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!”

Yes dear yes dear, we are still here….*tickle tickle* *peekaboo…chak*

So busy lately that I haven’t had time to blog on my kiddo’s accomplishments.

Vocabulary

• “ FEESH” (FISH)
• “KAAT” (cat) or sometimes he’ll say “MEOW” when he sees a one
• “WO WO” or “DOG”when he sees the dog photo or when he spots a real dog.
• “BIRD”
• 2 weekends ago, I took him to my fren’s house and when he saw her opening the kitchen cabinet, he said, “WAAH” and then wanted to dig through her cabinet. Yeah, his fav past time is digging through mine.
• “BAHBE” (bubbles)…yup just like his brother, he loves bubbles.
• “MEI YOU” when something finishes, whether a song, a TV program or his food.
• “MAH MI” (mummy)
• “PA PA”
• “GONG GONG”
• “AUNTIE”
• “CHIEH CHIEH” – looks over our wall to our neighbor’s yard and calls for Chieh Chieh to come out & play with him
• Sings “RO, RO, RO” when he hears the Row, Row , Row Your Boat song

I just bought 2 children song’s CD – Mandarin & English and I can hear him “singing” from his car seat each time I play the CD.

He imitates what we say all the time, so I am sure that this list will get longer very soon.

Food
Abt 2 months ago, I was pretty worried cause he was eating very little, and does not attempt to self feed.
I am glad to say that my fears are cleared now. He is eating much better. Still not much of a milk drinker but prefers solid.

• He can eat a couple pcs of biscuits by himself each time. I have been procrastinating abt making my own batch of cookies for him. Sorry dear, mummy won’t be baking anymore cakes this weekend…cookies for you ok.
• Loves spicy food. We have fed him curry, chili sauce and currypuff….He loves them. He’s definitely my boy! But we dare not give him too much, scared that it might give him a tummy ache.
• He prefers crunchy stuff or food that he can chew rather than soft mushy food.
• Loves steam corn. Usually I will steam the corn on cob, then peel kernel off one by one to feed him, making sure that he gets only the soft part of the kernel.
• Eats small pcs of fruits, (apples, grapes, mangos) etc pretty well.
• Likes corn flakes, honey stars even more coz it is sweet. I don’t intentionally give it to him, but he wants some when he saw Bryan eating them.
• Actually now, he wants to eat whatever we eats. Somehow things from our plate taste better from his.
• With this boy, I am much more relaxed. Usually he gets to eat whatever Bryan eats – Goreng Pisang, pretzels, cookies, noodles, macaroni, cheese, vitagen (sips from the straw), ..

For now i am still avoiding shellfish & prawns for him…but i think he is ok with prawns. I had fed him pumpkin that has been stir fried with dried prawns. And no allergic reactions. Give it a couple more months, and I think i am ready to intro a little bit of prawns to him and see how. I think this boy has got a tougher immune system when it comes to food allergy compared to Bryan. So far *touch wood* he has never had any food allergy.  I was very careful with introducing food to Bryan, but even that he had a few episodes of mild food allergy.

When Dylan has had enuff of the food, and there’s more, he’ll feed them to me. Ya ya..feed all the leftovers to mummy….

Motor skills

• He is walking very steadily. Last weekend, for the first time, we let him walked freely in the shopping mall at Borders & Toys R Us. Either hub and I just have to tail behind him to make sure that he doesn’t get into any trouble. He loves exploring the places…touching this and that. So we can only “release” him at “child-friendly” stores.

I think my slings can now be retired… He will either sit in the stroller or we will let him walk.

• Started to learn how to run now that he has better control of his leg muscle.
• Takes his toys in and out from the basket/ container
• Able to insert a straw back into its hole (Vitagen bottle + straw)
• Dances to music

Others

• Able to drink from a straw. In fact loves to drink water from Bryan’s drinking bottle.
• Likes books because his ge-ge likes books too. Usually when I ask Bryan to bring me some books from his book shelf, he will bring at least 2 books….one for him and one for Dylan.
• Favourite toy – my kitchen cabinet. There’s one cabinet where we kept all the spare bottles of vitamins, instant noodles, etc…light stuff. So I let him play at that cabinet. Then one day when my husb wanted to get a new bottle of vitamins, he can’t find it. Found it later at the living room…thanks to Dylan la. Now husb told me to get a lock for that cabinet.

Nvm dear,..mummy will allocate a new cabinet for you to play with.

• Still loves to suck his 2 middle fingers when he is tired and sleepy…but not anymore when he is alert.

Delayed post due to the holiday seasons. It seems that I am busier during the holiday seasons compared to working days.

Food

• He is almost eating whatever that we are eating at home unless they are seafood or nuts. I think he loves solid or lumpy food compared to puree. Loves bread, biscuit, scraped apples, chopped prunes. Had mee sua, oat, Nestum

Motor

• This lil guy had started walking! 2 weeks ago, he started to take just 1 or 2 steps. Now he is getting more adventurous – a couple of steps at a time. Sometimes he even attempt to run. Really cannot walk want to run liao.
• Loves the stairs. Will play at the living area, then suddenly he will remember the stairs and start crawling to the dining area. Will climb up & down the stairs. See next post for his down the stairs video. He’s getting pretty good at it.

Vocal
We heard him said

• Fish (aquarium at my mom’s house)
• Cat (pointed to a photo in his book)
• Dog
• Can’t say Bird yet, but when he hears us saying that, he will look for one in the sky.

Others

• Loves music, will sing & dance along to a song he likes
• Has 4 little teeth now. 2 at the top & 2 at the bottom.
• Loves to play with CDs and remote control. Donno what it is with kids. All of them seems to love the remote control. At least both my boys are.

I didn’t realize how much my baby has grown until I gave birth to Dylan earlier this year.

Suddenly he seemed so big compared to his little brother.

In fact, without me realizing it, he has really grown and learnt so much in the last 1 year. I have not been as diligent as I wanted in keeping track of his accomplishments. But some of the ones that I am most proud of are:-

• Fully potty trained (including nights) not long after he turned 2!
• Able to drinks his milk from the cup by himself. Actually he can make his own milk. I will measure the milk & water for him and he will pour them into the cup & stir-stir himself.
• Able to take off and put on his shoes & sandals.
• Can take off & put on his underwear and pants.
• Learning to put on his shirt.
• Am able to read words. In fact I think he has reading vocabulary of more than 200 words. We have opened 5 sets of 32 pcs flash cards and he knows the words of all of them. I have also made my own set flash cards and he knows how to read most of what I have shown him. I did not keep track of the number though.
• I am slowly training him to read sentences. Reading sentences is a bit more difficult than reading as there are more distractions. But he enjoys reading, and thus we will try our best to fuel his passion
• Reads simple mandarin words as well.

Physical skills

• Able to stand on his head. (gotta take a photo of this)
• Can climb up the slide (not stairs)
• Can jump and land sitting down on his bum-bum, with his legs stretched out. On the mattress la. He enjoys doing this.

Food

• Besides leafy green vegetables, he eats everything if they are non-spicy. Not exactly a picky eater but a playful eater. Although he eats by himself at school, at home, he still expects us (actually ME) to feed him. Especially now that I am feeding Dylan, he wants to be fed too.
• Milk – Up to 4 times a day on a school day. During the weekends…sometimes none. We will give him if he asked for it. But if he don’t want, then it is fine also.
• Earlier this year, he rejected most fruits & vege. But now he is slowly taking them back. So far he is ok with carrots, cauliflower, broccoli, asparagus, long beans and cooked onions.

Honestly, he can do a LOT of things if he wants to. But at home, esp with a baby around, he likes to get us to do things for him. So for the record, he can do the things above, but whether does he do it, is another issue altogether. J

But anyway, I am taking things easy. He grows up so fast, and eventually he will be able to do everything himself. So if he wants to be a baby a little longer…and if it is within my limits, I will let him be one.

Weight: 7.5kg, when weighed 2 weeks ago.

Physical skills

• Able to get into sitting position by himself.
• Able to pull himself up to a standing position.
• If we put him in the play pen and then walk away, he would pull himself up, stare out the pen and start screaming for attention.
• Already started to practice cruising, but not very stable yet. Still have yet to master the coordination of his legs to be able to cruise.
• Loves to stand in his bath by holding on to the 2 sides of the bathtub.
• Able to clap his hands when asked…”pai pai shou” (clap clap hands)
• Able to wave bye-bye.
• Loves to rotate his wrists about in mid air. He seems fascinated by his ability to do this.

Verbal

• Like most babies at this age, he’s very talkative. Earlier this month, he started calling ma ma, mi mi for attention. Even my 9 year old niece noticed that he can say mami. Personally, I don think he meant “mummy” then.
• But now, I am noticing it more and more often that he will call out “Ah maaaaaaaa..maa ma maa” when he wants my attention
• But I must say that he has a different tone/ voice to express what he wants.
• We can tell if he is hungry, wants to play, calling for attention..etc.

Social skills

• Will ask someone to come to him, by waving his hands up & down and nodding his head. => Actually he does that more to the neighbour hood dog than us la. If we take him out and he sees the dog, he would be waving his hands excitedly and nods his head until the dog comes to him.
• Favourite person? Mummy of course. Will immediately call out to mummy and asks mummy to carry the moment I come home.
• Second favourite – Daddy of course! If mummy is already home, and daddy comes home, will ask daddy to carry for a while…Then it is back to mummy.
• Loves smiling at people, even strangers.
• He’s definitely a hit among the neighbours being so friendly and being the youngest kid on the block.
• Already started to fight for my attention with his brother. A few nights ago, I was reading a book to him. He was happy and contented to sit on my lap. Then Bryan saw us and wanted to join in the fun. So I asked Bryan to sit next to me. And guess what, Dylan started to throw a minor tantrum when Bryan sits next to me and starts asking me question regarding the book.
• Needless to say – he is already fighting for toys with Bryan. Whatever Bryan is playing with, he wants too!

Food

• Takes 4-5 ounces ebm, about every 2-3 hourly.
• I am such a lousy mommy this time. I am sooo slow at introducing new food to him. This month, I introduced
• Pear puree -> hates it at first taste
• Carrot puree -> loves it initially, now a bit bored
• Pumpkin puree -> loves it
• Baby rusks + ebm -> loves it
• Brown rice cereal -> seem to love it
• But but but…I bought a blender & mixer last week. It has a small container that is perfect for making baby food. So mummy promise to make u more goodies ok.

Other skills

• Can remember where things are being kept. He saw my parents hid the alarm clock under the pillow. The next time they placed him on the bed, he crawled straight for the pillow, reach under it and take out the alarm clock.
• Very sensitive to sounds. Turns his head to the direction of the slightest sound.
• Will stand at Bryan’s toy box and starts digging for toys to play. When bored…throw away! *Sigh* Another baby to pick up after.

Getting naughtier by the day…but also getting more adorable to us. *Muakkksss*