Vainpot

Last week, I took out his new Superman pyjamas from the wardrobe. I had wanted to wash it first before letting him wear it at night to sleep. When he saw the new pyjamas, he got very excited and requested that I wear it for him immediately. After I had done so, he stood up, pulled my hand and said "mirror".

Ran to our master bedroom and climbed up onto the planter so that he can look into the mirror. And there you see him admiring himself. When I asked him, "Is Joshie handsome?", he replied "ah-sem"!

His "glamour" hair-cut

This is very very backdated.

After a year of cheap, ugly haircuts, this is Joshie's 1st cut at Glamour Kiddies @ Liang Court. It was expensive, but we decided to go ahead with the cut. For a first timer, it's $18 and subsequent visits will be charged at $25. And we are glad we did........he looks so much better and more handsome too, ahem........

He didn't cry like he used too.......maybe because there were too many toys to distract him. And also because we gave in to his request of not wearing the cape. We stripped him half-naked so that I wouldn't have to pick of strands of hair from his t-shirt later on.

The picture on the far right was taken before the hair-cut. And the first two pictures from the left were taken after, with his hair styled! Handsome eh? Girls, you need to take a number and queue up, ok? Hahahahaha.........

Joshua @ 22 months old

Again, time flies! Really really flies! He is now 2 months short of his 2nd birthday. And mummy hasn't finalised any of his birthday plans. Better start booking the caterers and decide where to buy his cake from.

This month, he has started speaking in phrases, for eg. "Joshie cry, pain pain", "Baby fell down", "Go in" etc etc.......And his favourite word is still "no" and recently "not yet", usually used before bathing and nap time. Then again, when he gets into the shower area, it's tough getting him out again cause he'll be happily playing with water. So what does mummy have to resort to? Use the naughty corner to threaten him and luckily this works most of the time.

I realised that he is beginning to identify his friends, especially his 2 close playmates. Before this, he knew that they are his playmates and would mention their names when he sees their photos. However, during his recent playdates, he addresses them by their name. Sounds so cute when he does that.

His fine motor skills are also improving by leap and bounds. He can solve a 2-piece puzzle easily. He was able to match the correct pieces a couple of months back but it took him a LOT of effort to piece the two nicely. He is obviously a less frustrated and happier child now that he has achieved this milestone. Besides that, he has also learnt to line his Lego blocks in a straight line on his recently purchased Lego board.

In terms of food, he is getting fussier. Sometimes I don't understand him. One day he loves my homecooked fried meehoon but when I cook it again the following week, he refuses to eat. Since I am not sure what he wants to eat, I have stopped cooking his food separately. It's very disheartening when I have to discard the uneaten portion. So now he eats together with us but I try not to add in too much seasoning into my cooking. Less stressful for me :)

10 things about Joshua

1) He is a vainpot. Loves to look at himself in the mirror.

2) Makes all types of funny sounds, eg. "ssssshhh", "aahh", "vvrroomm" and insists that mummy/daddy immitate him.

3) He is a tv addict, especially hooked to Playhouse Disney.

4) He says "bye bye" to everyone and everything. Before I switch off the lights each night, he would say goodbye to the lion, rabbit, monkey, duck, bear and giraffe stickers on his bedroom wall.

5) Bread and biscuits are his favourite food.

6) Loves playing with his 2 closest friends, Oscar and Rion. He even says goodbye to mummy when it's time to leave and doesn't bother at all when mummy walks out of their apartments.

7) Screams and cries when his demands are not met but I have managed to control the intensity and frequency of his outbursts by sending him to the naughty corner.

8) Very musically inclined. I hope this continues as he grows.

9) Loves storybooks and like no. 8, I hope his love for books will continue.

10) A clean freak like daddy.

His new toys

Crazy toy sale at Takashimaya! We were there on Saturday evening but the queue was so so so long! We decided that mummy should bring Joshie there on a weekday when it is not so crowded. However, on Sunday after church, daddy suggested that we head over to Takashimaya since it was still early (10:30am) and thus, it is highly unlikely that we have to rub shoulders with other fellow parents! =)

We bought a 54-keys keyboard. Since Joshie loves music so much and enjoys punching his fingers on his little 2-octaves toy piano, we figured this is a good investment. After all, we plan to send him for piano lessons when he turns 4 or 5. We paid $35 for the keyboard which also comes with a mic. There was a cheaper one, $19 without the mic but it was quite off-tune.

Joshie singing into his mic...............

And pretending to play the keyboard.......actually he looks quite 'pro" right?

Oh and I also bought him the Lego board so that it's much easier for him to stack or line up his Lego blocks. Was searching high and low for the board at the departmental stores but to no avail. Finally found the board at the Lego shop. So what do you think of Joshie's township development? Solely planned and built by the little cheeky without mummy's help!

Naughty corner

I established the "naughty corner" a couple of months ago. Why naughty corner and not the rod/cane? Well, I have used my hands to whack his bum-bum or hands when he is naughty but I find that it doesn't work! He doesn't seem to be afraid and I do not want to increase the intensity of my beating and act like a 'mad woman' in the process. Moreover, I do not want to set a bad example for him........"hmnn, mummy screams and beat when I don't obey her so I can also act the same way when she doesnt 'obey' me!"

It was difficult in the beginning. He wouldn't stay at the corner and would always escape! =P So I had to keep bringing him back to the corner. After about two months, he seems to understand and would stay in his corner. Just look at him, ended up lying down cause he was quite tired here. We had just got home from school!

Last weekend, I also started establishing the naughty corners outside the home. It wasn't intentional though. He was being very difficult while we were having dinner at Takashimaya. I warned him that he would have to stand in the naughty corner when we got home but that did not deter him. So I just walked him to a quiet corner and made him stand there. He was crying and kept turning his head to look at mummy who was walking away from him. After that, he was an obedient boy once again!

An eager helper (part 2)

I have never cleaned our shower glass screen. I don't know where he learnt it from, not sure if he has seen our part-time helper doing it. Recently, during his bath time, he'd either take his bath sponge or towel and clean the glass screen vigorously! =)

"Mummy, picture again? Let me squeeze the towel first ok?"

"After squeezing, I clean.......hehe, Joshie good boy!"

Very helpful and a clean freak in the making, just like his beloved daddy!

He can read

This is a backdated post.

A couple of weeks ago, I had a real pleasant surprise when I discovered that my little boy can read quite a number of words. Previously, I knew that he could recognise certain words such as hi, dog, clap and wave. That was when I was diligently flashing cards at him during his meal times. However, this lazy mummy has stopped doing that for nearly half a year already. See how "disciplined" I am. I don't think I can ever homeschool my kids hahahahaha......

So how did Joshie learn how to read????

It's thanks to this set of Your Baby Can Read VCDs by Dr Titzer................

I introduced these VCDs to him when he was about 7 months old. He doesn't watch it very often though, maybe 3-4 times a week. But I am amazed at how his little brain learns. Hmnn, children learn very fast huh? This really motivates me to teach him more stuff, now that he's like a little sponge absorbing information.

These are the Your Baby Can Read flashcards.

And for my own record, these are the words that he can read:

hi

dog

clap

wave

tiger

ear

kick

elephant

duck

smiling

head

toes

mouth

nose

sit

cow

arms

roll over

tongue

colours

comb

drum

bellybutton

bubbles

baby

spider

Weird fashion sense

My son has a weird fashion sense. He insisted that he wanted to wear this yellow tank top over his onesie.

He didn't allow me to take the top off. Went to sleep hugging his kangaroo.

Joshie's progress at playschool

After much observation and serious thought, I have decided to let him continue. Starting last week, he has been more sociable and I can see that he is enjoying himself too. Here are some pictures of him in class.

Craft for that day - a magician's hat. The children were asked to colour the shapes before sticking them onto the cone-shaped hat.

This is the end result of his craft. The hat didn't "survive" long, he pulled out all the shapes the next day.

After playschool - a tired Joshie. It was a really hot day and we were waiting for the pedestrian light to turn green.

An eager helper

He reminds me to clean the house everyday. Sometimes when I am busy watching the dishes in the kitchen, he'd ask me to open the door to the storeroom. Then he'd bring out the dustpan and broom, give them to me and say "sweep" or "clean house". Depending on my chores, I'd sometimes oblige him and if I am too busy, I'll tell him "Joshie, help mummy to sweep the floor."

He's very eager to help. He loves to sweep and I hope he will continue to do so when he grows up =) hehe. I guess he has inherited his clean-freak attitude from his daddy. Just this afternoon, we were at a friend's birthday party and he had spilled some rainbow rice chips on his chair. He refused to sit down until we had cleaned his chair =)

Here are some pictures of Joshie with the broom.

Sweeping our master bedroom!

Cheeky smile while he takes a rest.

I told him "Joshie, smile for mummy. Mummy wants to take a picture of you," and this is what I got!

3rd wedding anniversary

Early in the morning before hubby left for work, he told the cheeky this, "Three years ago, mummy and daddy got the 'licence' to have you!"

So how did we celebrate? Nope, we didn't go out for dinner nor did we get anything for each other. Hubby's been really busy at work so we had a homecooked dinner of bolognese pasta and baked corn chips with salsa & cheese. It was already good that he managed to come home early =) Maybe several years down the road, we should go for a 2nd honeymoon on our wedding anniversary. Hehehehe......

His favourite game

Peek-a-boo!!!!

He likes to hide his face underneath the pillow or the quilt and would be exceptionally thrilled when I pretend to look for him. Sometimes, I am so focused on my work that I don't bother. He would then pretend to call out his name and immitate me when I am really looking for him.

He also loves to play chase. When I call his name, he'd run very fast in the opposite direction and expects me to run after him. He'd be giggling non-stop when I pretend that I can't catch him!

On another more "serious" note, these are the supplements that I feed Joshie.


From left to right: Vitamin C liquid, Sambucol black elderberry syrup, Millenium cactus juice and Scotts Emulsion.

I only feed him the Vitamin C when he is not feeling well. Otherwise, I believe that he gets enough daily dosage of Vitamin C from his fruits and vegetables.

The Sambucol black elderberry syrup is quite effective in building up his immune system especially when he has a cold. I brought it along during our 2 week Japan trip and he did not fall sick at all, even though there were times when his nose started to run a bit.

LeapSchoolHouse

I finally enrolled him in a playschool. Running out of ideas on activities to do with him so I thought I'd better send him to school. At least he will be kept occupied even though it's only a twice weekly 90 minute session. It's an accompanied programme so I still don't have my ME time yet. Couldn't find a drop-off programme that I feel comfortable with so for now, Joshie goes to school with mummy.

The school, LeapSchoolHouse is located at the mall just opposite our apartment. Very convenient! He started his first official lesson last Wednesday and I am still observing him closely so that I can decide whether to let him continue next term. He seems quite withdrawn and is not very interested to socialise with the other kids. I presume it's because they are all younger than him, they are roughly 18-19 months old while he is already 21 months old. This boy likes to mix with older kids!!! Anyway, will just observe for another week before I make the decision. I think next week is the deadline to inform the school so that they can either secure our place or release it to other parents on the waiting list.

Here's a picture of him in his official school T-shirt. The students are required to wear this T-shirt to class all the time.



Colouring his face mask.




Listening intently during story time.




"Teacher, look........I caught a fish!"

One more week, Joshie......before Mummy decides whether to let you continue!

Homemade playdough

Here's Joshie playing with his homemade playdough. Three colours in all - yellow, blue and pink. There was supposed to be a green one too but I don't know why I couldn't unscrew the bottle cap no matter how hard I tried.

Why homemade playdough? Well, we bought him a playdough set several months ago, PlayDoh brand I think. I find that there's a certain strong chemical smell and even though the label says it is non-toxic, I don't feel very comfortable letting my toddler play with them. No matter how I scrub his hands, there's bound to be bits and pieces stuck in his fingernails and it's not easy for me to clean his fingernails due to his resistance! So, there has been no playdough session for Joshie for quite a while already. I've found an online recipe several weeks ago but it was only last week that I finally, FINALLY "converted" the recipe to playdough!!!!! Lazy, lazy mummy!

Here's the recipe in case you are keen to make your own playdough.

Ingredients:
1 cup flour
1 cup warm water
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon oil
1/4 cup salt
food colouring

Method:
Combine all ingredients except food colouring in a saucepan. Stir under medium heat till smooth. Then remove from heat.
Knead until smooth.
Divide into as many portions as you like and add food colouring.

This is what he does......

.......when he has finished eating his frozen yogurt.


I tried taking away the plastic cup but he protested. As I didn't want to cause a scene in public, I just let him lar, after all it's not a serious thing.

We just had our lunch at Coffee Bean and were heading home when we passed by the frozen yogurt store. It's quite new and the lady was giving out some samples. Cheeky kept stretching his hand to reach for the plastic cup and so, I gave it to him. As expected, he dirtied himself and I had to wash his sticky hands, face and neck when we got home!

On another note, I am looking for someone to install window grills in Joshie's bedroom in our KL home. Anyone can recommend?