Multiparenting Cayen & Cayson

Strangely , while he has been comfortable with the past few haircuts , he is resistant to any haircuts of late. This is very reminiscent of Cayen’s early days . But Cayen was different, he’s ok to have the haircut , he just didn’t like the cloth/apron , and he has to sit on our lap initially.  Comparatively, Cayson was super easy in the initial days. No fuss at all. Not sure why there was a 360 turn in the last one month.  But the fringe is reaching the eyes .. something needs to be done.  Hence, after observing Cayen’s haircut process, I decided that it wasn’t so difficult after all. I could take things into my own hands, literally.  And so I bought some professional scissors ..us$9.60 only ! Got down to work last night. He didn’t struggle at all as he’s watching Peppa Pig.  However, during sleep time, he gave his feedback to Ah Pa after he finished his milk... C: ah pa, 看 P: yes? C: hair.. cut cut cut P: oh yes.. who cut your hair?? C: ah ma.. cut cut cut C: n...

Last night, he ran a high fever of 39+ degree so today he was home all day. Day started well as he was doing painting and other games but evening was a disaster. When I asked him to wash his hands, he filled up this container and put soap in instead of just doing a quick wash. As I was asking him to wash up and not to  waste water, he purposely splashed the water every where. I forcefully turned off the tap and tried to carry him away but he got really upset.  I guess he had no appetite as he want feeling well or perhaps as he had some tea time snacks or both. He wasn't in a mood to eat. He took a few mouthfuls and when he saw me drinking a  packet of green tea, he tried to drink but there wasn't any left I told him. He didn't believe, so he jumped up, took a chair , climbed up to try to reach for scissors on the table top. He told me he wanted to cut the packet to see if indeed there was anything left.  Instead of snatching the scissors from him, I told...

Cayen cannot sit still during mealtimes. So earlier on, I have posted some tips on using busy bags with lego & colouring books etc. However, there will be some days where we forgot about it or didn't want to bring so many things out. Hence, here are some other tips to keep them entertained for up to 1 hour at the table without iPhones. 1. At Jap restaurants, teach them how to "pop" the Edamame   When he accidentally dropped it, he "blew" it clean .. 2. If going to coffeeshops, bring a bag of their favourite fruits that requires peeling. In this case, we brought Buah Duku (locally pronounced as Baluku). Be prepared a little bit of mess if fruit is very juicy. 3. Playing a counting game For instance, count the number of fans, lanterns, fishes, No Smoking signs, Exit signs, bowls, tables etc. Just keep counting until some food comes. 4. Eating the peanuts In Chinese restaurants, there's usually a plate of peanuts , braised or the usua...

Cayen had constipation a few weeks ago. However, as he has developed into a real picky eater, he no longer eats papaya which helps to ease constipation.  Being a non papaya eater myself, I decided to innovate a little and try a new way instead of giving up. I googled papaya ice cream and found some recipes to do that. All involved quite some work like blending etc which I didn't want as I didn't want a lot of hassle. So I simply improvised using the simplest way and minimum ingredients.  So I took a ripe papaya and mashed it with a metal fork. I placed them into a mould used for ice cubes. Then I dropped honey on top. Froze that for an hour or two and it was ready.  When I served it to him, he lapped it all up as it tasted mainly of honey and was cold and nice, just like ice cream.  After a while, his constipation was cured... 

It's strange. They want to walk when they can only crawl but once they can walk, they want to be carried.  So to try to encourage him to walk on his own, I resorted to creating games on walking on certain coloured tiles or walking on the lines of the pavement so that he would walk voluntarily.  Millenia Walk is a good place to kick start the series of games as they have nice black and white tiles and not so much human traffic. So some variations are: - let's walk on the black tiles - let's walk on the White tiles - let's hop on the black tiles etc - let's cross the bridge (when you see a strip of a different colour) - let's run up or down the slope (when theres's slopes ..  So far, this has helped to increase his willingness to walk. Let's hope he can keep it up.  http://youtu.be/iLDSZVKJzsI

Recently he has been very mischievous , and today he was especially naughty. He poured the Ruyi oil all over the floor and he poured out the toilet cleaning powder and attempted to eat it. That's not to mention him hitting Grandma again despite repeated warnings and even caning.  During bedtime, I decided to try a new tactic. I used his soft toys and seat them in a circle . I said they were his students and he's their teacher and he should teach him all the dos and don't. So I used the toys to ask him if he can pour oil and powder on the floor , what he needs to do when he's done with a meal and what steps he need to do in a bedtime routine. He got all the answers right and at least I know the theory is right. So I got all the animals to do these: Step 1: drink milk Step 2: drink water Step 3: brush teeth with toothpaste n no youtube Step 4: sleep  Then , I said he's the last one and he should set a good example as a teacher.  He looked very serious. He went to ask ...

Dining out with kids can be a real hassle and for a long time we went for the easy way out of giving him the iPhone. Nowadays , I decided to get more creative. Hence, this is my Doremon bag of tricks. I try to keep it light so usually I will take 1-2 of these combi. 1) interactive games like matching games 2) lego ( I will bring the mini ones)  3) book for tracing ABC 4) sticker books  5) crayons and paper (there's a little risk of making a little mess) 

Cayen used to be fine with vegetables until two months ago. Whenever we feed him any vegetables, either on its own or camouflaged with meat and rice, he would skilfully fish out the small piece of vegetable out of his mouth. No amount of persuasion by Ah Po works so he got away with barely eating much vegetable unless it's completely mashed and unrecognisable.  When I lament about this, Ah Pa and Ah Po will say that he is simply taking after me , as I actually don't like veg too much.  A few days ago, I happened to be home when he's having dinner. Again he's up to his antics of pulling out vegetable from his mouth.  Though I really hated it, I made a grand act of devouring a piece of carrot . And then, I made a great exclamation about how vegetable tasted really good and he should eat it too.  He looked a bit tentative. He paused and considered for a few seconds ... Then he pulled a piece of vegetable from his bowl and ate it. I clapped and c...

Yesterday, he turned 20 months. At night he surprised me by reciting 1-10 in Mandarin when he was about to drift off to sleep. (He knew the English version about 2-3 weeks ago I think, just before counting toes). Anyway, before end of day, he was up to his old antics of throwing toys all over the places and throwing them backwards in fact. This was despite my advice to him to "慢慢放”. So without father warning, I scooped him up and parked him into naughty corner for 5 seconds. Then I told him to go pick up his toys ... And put it all back into his bucket. This is what happened . He looked so forlorn as though he was made to 劳改 (reform through labour) on his 20 mth's milestone. But c'est la vie baby .. You gotta be responsible for your actions , every day , any day . YouTube Video - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

I must read this article. Cayen is usually very sweet but he can also have a fiery temper at times.  Why your child has temper tantrums A temper tantrum is the emotional equivalent of a summer storm – sudden and sometimes fierce. One minute you and your child are in a restaurant enjoying your dinner, the next minute she's whimpering, whining, and then screaming at the top of her lungs because her straw is bent. Children between the ages of 1 and 3 are especially prone to tantrums. Though you may worry that you're raising a tyrant, take heart – at this age, it's unlikely that your child is throwing a fit to be manipulative. More likely, she's having a meltdown in response to frustration. Claire B. Kopp, professor of applied developmental psychology at California's Claremont Graduate University, attributes much of the problem to uneven language skills. "Toddlers are beginning to understand a lot more of the words they hear, yet their ability to produce  language ...

Cayen doesn't like milk . While we try to give him 500ml per day, he ends up having only 300+ml per day. The last we measured his height, it was only 10% precentile though his weight was 50% precentile. Hence, I decided to buy this supplement for him as a backup for days that his intake is only 300ml+. I opened the  Childlife Liquid Calcium  bottle today and was a tat surprised to see that it is a thick creamy looking syrup that is orange flavour. I decided to dilute it a bit before feeding baby, around 1:1 proportion. Good thing is that he loves it! Now at least I need not worry anymore that he is not having enough calcium though my priority would be to have him eat more high calcium natural foods. Btw, if you are first time customer, receive $10 off 1st order of $40 & up, or $5 off on smaller orders, when using code:  HQT301. 

Today Cayen intensify his recent interest in picking his nose. He seemed to think it's rather fun. As usual, nothing we do can stop him, at least until I invented a game/ sound to pinch his nose (for sharpness rather than having a big nostrils) .. The games we need to play .. 

Cayen had a scratching problem . He used to scratch when he was upset about something and also when he was feeling just fine.  Outcome : all caregivers , from parents to grandparents and godparents, were all scratched every other day. It really hurt as he would dig in his nails (no matter how short) and scratch and usually we would see blood.  I googled everything I could about "aggressive 1 year old" , "violent baby" etc and tried different ways from slapping the offending hand to nagging to scolding and warning , nothing worked. In fact, sometimes when we slapped the back of his hand, he would slap us back.  Finally , I figured that perhaps he just needed a diversion or an alternative wat for him to express himself, so I decided to teach him a new trick - patting . So everything he scratch, I would put my hands on my hips and say "I'm angry" and growl a little. When he patted me, I would say "happy!" and then smiled very widely. I did that...