Hao's Toilet/Potty Training

It has been a while since I last update about Hao. Just few months before Hao turned 2 years old, we started to potty train him. I'm not too sure is it due to each kid is different, or because Lynn is a girl and Hao is a boy. The process of potty training him is not smooth at all as compared to Lynn. But of course the environment is totally different for both of them. And Lynn plays an important part in Hao's potty training.

Lynn was potty trained before she turned 2 years old too, by her nanny at that time. This was before we went her to child care and before Hao was born. This was not difficult to potty train her at all. Accidents seldom happen as long as we reminded her to go potty. And very soon she could tell me when she needed to go potty and did not require us to remind her at all. That was until Hao was born. The first month after Hao was born, lots of accidents happened at home. Even though I was mad about it but on the other hand I knew that I could not blame her at all. She was coping with the new family member at home. She probably was having stress about it too. Luckily the accidents part did not last long. I think on the 2nd month she improved a lot and slowly went back to normal.

As for Hao, as we are sending him to child care, so those children about his age are potty trained at the same time. However Hao is the slowest to cope amongst all children. As we did not spend time with him during weekdays, I only get to potty train him during weekend which is very limited. During first two months, accidents always happened. Sometimes I was so tired that after few accident happened on the same day, I gave up and put him back on diaper. I recognized it as he's not ready for potty train. But next day I would still try to make him diaper less and see how it goes. And at the same time I always reminded him to go potty. In child care, the comment that I got is he won't tell when he needs to go toilet. So when they did not remind him to go toilet, accident will happen. At one point, they almost want to give up on him. But I continue to make him diaper less at home, despite just twice a week. 

After few more months, accidents still happen but were getting less and less. But still need constant reminder to ask him to go toilet. I noticed that when he is so concentrate on doing one thing, even if he's just playing, he won't remember to go toilet. When we go out, I would bring him to toilet too despite he was still wearing diaper (I dare not let him go diaper less outside the house yet). Just want to make him a habit to go toilet instead of relying on the diaper. And despite child care told me that he won't tell them if he needs to go toilet, but at home he would tell me, or Lynn. I did not specifically ask how they potty train him (I did not want to sound as if I don't trust them). At home, each time after he goes to potty by himself, I will sure praise him and he will give me back a big smile on his face. Accidents were becoming less and less, almost down to zero but not entirely.

About 3 months back, when we go out for a short trip, I let Hao go diaper less too. I want to try force him not to rely on diaper. That means I have to be hardworking taking him to toilet. And that's another problem. Public toilet is definitely not as clean as home toilet, especially if we go to those Chinese restaurants for dinner. That was same problem with Lynn last time too, before she get used to those public toilets. For Hao, at the beginning, he told me he needed to go toilet but when we were there, he told me no. So we returned to the seat and 5 minutes later, he told me want to go toilet again. And again, he said no when we were in the toilet. Only at the 3rd time, finally he was able to pee. And that was probably because he could not hold back anymore. Hahaha. Can't remember exactly how long, but I think he get used to it after several times. And with this small achievement, I requested the child care to let him go diaper less when we go pick him up. And at the same time I constantly remind Hao to tell us if he wants to go toilet.

Accidents happened few times when we were outside. First time was on my car. He did not tell us he needed to go toilet. Second time was in a shopping mall while I was carrying him. Again he did not tell us he needed to go toilet. And despite this, I still insist he go diaper less when we go out. Because I fear that once I let him go back diaper, the toilet training will become more difficult. Third accident happened in my car too. But this one I could not blame him. We were stuck at the traffic jam on a highway on the way back home. He told us he needed to go toilet. But he could not wait for us to stop the car near any drain for him to unload.

Another person who plays an important part in contributing to Hao's potty training is Lynn. My this little girl, is like my spy on the boy, without me telling her to be one. Hahaha! She would "report" to me, when Hao peed on the floor. However if Hao went to potty himself without being told, she would praise him "Wah Hao good boy, shh shh in the potty" and then "reported" to me too "Mommy, you see Hao very good boy. He go to potty shhh shhh!" As if she's so proud of him. :) And when Hao requested to go toilet, Lynn will take him there. As I notice, Hao would prefer someone take him to the toilet. He would be glad if either me or Lynn take him to toilet, even though we are at home. Thus I think without Lynn, probably he's still way behind when come to potty training.

Oh yeah one mistake that I made when potty train him, is I did not ask him to pee while standing! >.< So used to "sit" potty. LOL! Until the people from child care reminded me.

Now, whenever Hao is with us, he will always go diaper less. Regardless when we go out for short or long period, I make him go diaper less. He will tell me or we will ask also, if he needs to go toilet, whether for big or small business. I know in the child care, he is on diaper when he takes the afternoon nap. But not at home as I can never impose their afternoon nap time at home. He just will not take the afternoon nap when I ask him to but he will go to sleep by himself when he get tired later. So I just let him go diaper less since I do not want to wake him up just to change diaper. I think it is about 7 months since the potty train started. It's a long and slow process, but I'm happy what he has achieved now - diaper less during day time, whether at home or outside. My next goal is zero accidents. :) 

What happen last week

Last Tuesday, when my dad picked up Hao, he was told that the child care would be closed down for disinfections due to Hand Foot Mouth disease (HFMD). I further called up the person in charge, Stacy and was told that 2 HFMD cases had been reported in the child care. So for preventing more cases, she decided to close the child care for the rest of the week and also for disinfection work to be carried out.

So for Wednesday, we sent Hao to my MIL house. And for Thursday, as my MIL was not available, we sent Hao to my niece's babysitter who is just behind my parent's house. Then on Thursday afternoon, Stacy called me and told me that I could bring back Hao to the child care on Friday. So we sent Hao back to the child care on Friday.

Friday after work, I and hb went to pick up the kids. It was drizzling so I just quickly carried Hao into the car. On the way back home, due to the heavy traffic we had to wait quite long at the traffic light. Hb noticed Hao's limbs were warm when interacting with the kids inside the car. When we reached the dinner place, I carried Hao from the car and confirmed that he was having mild fever. Hao did not eat a lot during dinner.

Back home while changing Hao getting him ready for bed, I noticed there were some rashes on Hao's butt. Immediately I suspected HFMD. Sigh looks like he is not that lucky after all. I gave him the fever syrup before getting him to sleep.

Saturday morning, we served bread for breakfast. Hao finished the whole cheese slice but leaving the slice of bread behind...... He was complaining pain and pointed at his mouth. I took a look - saw about 3 ulcers behind his lips. No wonder refused to let me brush his teeth. Hb cut the bread into small piece, added with some fresh milk, finally Hao finished off all the bread. He was very cranky almost the whole day. I couild see more rashes/red spots on his arms and lower part of his legs. He always asked for carry, was crying on and off. Fever came back in the afternoon. Gave him another dose of fever syrup and it went off in the evening. Did not take his lunch, he dozed off right before lunch was served. But he did not want to eat any food; instead he took 2 big cups of fresh milk. He had some rice for dinner. After that, he took yogurt and a scoop of ice cream too. And more milk before he went to bed. I usually nurse him twice a day - morning right after wake up and night before going to sleep. But sadly he rejected me that night! Because sucking make his mouth pain too! Sigh. :(

The whole weekend we were staying at home, did not go back to the parents house as there are other children will be around. As my MIL is away for holiday, and there is newborn in my parent's house (my SIL just gave birth 2 weeks ago) so I couldn't send Hao there. I took 2 days off from work on Monday and Tuesday to look after Hao at home. This is his 2nd attack of the HFMD. His first attack is when he was about 9 months old, got it from Lynn (that was first time Lynn had the HFMD and we were not aware about it until much later). Hao is recovered now and I sent him back to child care this morning. Our house is full of noise as before. :)

One month

 

Hmm… this looks yummy!

It has been one month since we send Hao to the childcare (no playschool for his age). I would say Hao is adopting well there. He eats well and sleeps well. Feeling a little insecure, but he did not cry much. After few days, he feels easy and comfortable to move around the place.

One month is neither long nor short. One more month, Hao will turn one, no longer a baby. I’m going to miss him being a baby. Taking care of him and taking care of Lynn as a baby is different experience and different feeling. My bonding with Lynn has been there since she was born, right after coming out from my stomach. However my bonding with Hao, did not started since he was born. It was after he was born, days by days, months by months, slowly and naturally. I was sad that I could not get him a good nanny like Lynn’s. But I’m glad that he is growing up well in the childcare.

I noticed he is getting happier nowadays. He always shows his sweet smiling face. My dad will go pick up the kids when he is on the way back home from work. Hao loves my dad. Whenever he sees him, for sure he will craw towards him with his happiest face and biggest smile he can give. My parent’s house has many toys. Some are my parents bought for Lynn in the past. Some are my niece’s toy. Therefore, Hao will never get bored there. He is getting more and more curious nowadays and does not get his eyes off from the toys there. At one time, Hao was suspecting having HFMD and my mom helped to take care of him. He refused to sleep at all! Just want to play with the toys. Hahaha! In addition, my mom was so worry that he did not get enough sleep for that day.

He is getting more talkative too. He will mimic the word that we said to him. He loves music and songs. Whenever Lynn sings song, I sing to him, or we play the CD in the car, for sure, he will clap his hand and smile at you. When Lynn or I finish singing the song, you will hear him trying to sing the song to you. So sweet! He likes to play my hand phone. He knows where I put it. One day I saw him picked up the phone and say “Hello”. When he is hungry, or whenever he sees us eating, he will come over and say “mum mum” to ask for the food. His appetite has gone bigger and becoming easier for me to feed him. The duration taken to finish his meal is getting lesser. Sometimes after finish one bowl of cereal or porridge, he will still ask for more and complain if I’m not giving him more food. I love seeing him eating more. I want him to gain more weight. He has six teeth now. I started to feed him some soft meat to train his chewing skill.

Lynn was a sociable child since she was a baby but not for Hao. However, lately we noticed he is becoming more sociable. He no longer cries when seeing stranger. However, sometimes will still stick close to us, seeking for security. However, after a while, he will be fine willing to be carried by anyone. We went for my secondary friend’s wedding dinner last week and surprisingly, he opened his arm for my friend when my friend wanted to carry him. First time seeing him so easy. My friend carried him away from us, went to other tables to talk with other friends. He did not cry at all. I feel happy to see him out grow from the separation anxiety.
Hao started to show his character and his tantrum too. When he refused to do something, like refuse to lie down when I changed his diaper, he will protest by crying or making noise and kicking his leg. When his cousin sister (my niece) snatches away the toy from his hand, he will shout back at her and try to get back the toy too. He is not as stubborn as Lynn is, but my guess is maybe he has bad temper (like me, Lol).

We always ask Lynn to share and give way to Hao. When time is right, I have to start teaching Hao to share and learn to give respect to Lynn too. Now I am scratching my head to think of his one-year-old birthday celebration.

Family outing @ Aman Rimba

End of last month, the playschool that Lynn is attending had organized a family outing to Aman Rimba at Janda Baik, which nestled in the hills of Pahang. Children from the playschool were free of charge, but the parents had to pay for the transportation. They chartered a school bus for the parents and the children. There were few parents drove there themselves.

We gathered in the playschool at 9am and departed around 9.30am. It took us about 1 hour to reach Janda Baik. The bus could not access Aman Rimba directly. Therefore, we had to walk about 400m from the main road. The parents who drove there, helped to transport the children to Aman Rimba. Thanks to Hao, I get to ride the car also as it was too sunny to carry the baby to walk all the way in. Poor hubby had to walk himself.

Aman Rimba is a private estate. Its design and architecture has been heavily influenced by the yesteryears of Malaysia. Capturing the aura of "kampung life", with its artistic impressions and natural highlights, while fusing the convenience of modern amenities, Aman Rimba is the priceless masterpiece of its authors, Sabri and Norwati.

Aman Rimba was designed primarily to be a private sanctuary for family and friends of the Sabris. Every corner features a story to be told through years of personalized creation, offering a homely aura. It encompasses three acres of fruit orchard in a natural forest environment.

Various activities are available – swimming pool that overlooks the freshwater lake; boat ride at the freshwater lake that you get to enjoy exotic birds like swans and a variety of ducks and fishes; multi purpose court; refreshing dip at the cool mountain stream which flows calmly over large boulders and rocks; or relaxing yourself at the “Sireh” house, a traditional Malaysian village house constructed entirely of wood that is very cooling and just nice for the hot weather of that day.

After a brief introduction by the guess relation, we were free to enjoy ourselves. First thing that attracted the kids was no other than the swimming pool. Same for Lynn. She was bugging me to let her go to the pool. I found that it was hard to say no to her looking at most other kids were in the pool even though I was reluctant to let her dip into the pool when the clock was closed to 12pm!  It was so hot. Luckily, I brought the sunscreen along.

 

While I was with Lynn at the swimming pool, hubby brought Hao for a walk to the mountain stream.

This is their Outdoor bathroom, where the walls are made from bamboo. Amenities such as Aromatherapy shower gel, hair shampoo, hair conditioner and body lotion are well prepared for the guests. Noticed the water is coming out from bamboo too.

 

The “Sireh” house features an expansive living area, complete with television, daybeds and pantry. It  has a separate bedroom houses a four-poster queen sized bed with attached bathroom.

We packed some hotdog, snack and fruit juice for our lunch. Hao was so tired that he fell asleep on my lap after taking his milk. Lynn definitely enjoyed herself there. A boy always looked for her to play with until his mother asking the teacher is Lynn his little girl friend. Hahahaha! We left the place at 3pm. It was a good trip. We all had a good time. It was nice to forget about the work and spend the day with the kids. Thanks to the playschool for organizing such event for us.

The last day

Yesterday during work, I was thinking of the boy all the time in the office. After work, we quickly went to pick him up. I got a cold shoulder and long face from the babysitter. She was not looking at me and not talking to me. Apparently, she was still angry with me. Well I did nothing wrong. When I was looking for babysitter I had already told her that the baby is on fully breast milk and if she think she can’t support that, please do not accept to take care my child!

Next week I’m going to send Hao to parents’ house and then in the month of May, Hao is going to the playschool together with Lynn. I had talked to the person in-charge of the playschool. I can send him over next month (they are limiting to 5 babies only and Hao will be the 4th one). After the incident, I don’t trust this babysitter anymore. Sending Hao to her will only make me worry. Moreover, now she is showing long face to me, how do I know will she harm the baby to release her anger to me? I do not want to take any risk. However, giving me a choice I would like to end the relationship with the babysitter in a better way. She maybe thinking that she is good and experience in taking care of children but I’m sorry aunty you are not good at all in our eyes.

Lynn was lucky. She was blessed with a very good babysitter when she was a baby. Until today, we still maintain good relationship with that lady. We know all her children and grand children. Her grandchildren are Lynn’s playmate. Unfortunately, Hao did not come on the right timing. The aunty needs to take care of her own granddaughter who was born 3 months after Hao. She alone could not take care 2 babies at the same time. That is why I could not send Hao to her. But she helped to take care Hao until the granddaughter was born. She’s a very nice lady, and has been supportive to breastfeeding.

The playschool has been established for more than 30 years. They are ok with Hao on breast milk. It is a better environment too. Hao will get the opportunity to learn from other kids. This should help for his growth. However on the bad side, is maybe he will pick up some bad habit from the older kids too. Well there’s always good and bad. We just have to keep an eye on them and correct them if they are doing something not right or not good.

4/28:

Went to the babysitter's house to collect Hao's things after work. I also gave her some branded and pricey chocolate, as an appreciation to her for taking care Hao all this while. Even though I may not agree with her on everything, but to me these are separate issues. Finally, a smile from her - I guess she did not expect I will say thank you to her. Well, I'm a person who likes good ending. :)

Go to school

Lynn's child care center will be closed for 2 weeks, starting 22 December 2008 until 2 Jan 2009. So Lynn will be going back to the playschool on 5 Jan 2009. As me and hubby still need to work during these 2 weeks (we are on contractual basis, do not have so called 'clearing annual leave' like other people), I'm sending Lynn to my mom (luckily still have some one to help take care the kid). I forgot to mention to Lynn that the school is closed and she will be going to po po's house. Luckily she did not make much fuss to get down from the car when reaching my mom house. However every morning, she keep on asking my mom "Go to school". Well, with just about 2 months plus in the playschool, she started missing it. Of course, there are so many fun activities and friends there. I think it's a good start. Hopefully when she are old enough to enter kindy and then primary school, she will continue enjoying school life. :)

Lynn's first performance

Date: 5 December 2008
Time: 4pm
Venue: Wisma Tun Sambanthan


The child care center that Lynn is attending was having its 30th annual concert. It was Lynn's very first concert, and performance too. Even though she just joined in October, she managed to catch up with the dances and took part in 3 dances!

Lynn was standing at the right most. This was her first dance. I think she was not used to be on stage and seeing so many uncles and aunties yet. So she was kind of standing there, looking around and not doing much of the dance movements.


This was Lynn's second appearance on the stage. She is the 3rd kid from the left. She did better for this one. Already got one time experience probably. :)


Haha, Lynn looked so cute in this outfit. And she enjoyed it very much. :)

Lynn's progress in Child care

It has been one month since Lynn started going to the child care center. Early last week, Lynn was not feeling well. She had some mild fever on Sunday night. So on Monday, I called up the child care to make sure if she's alright. And had a short conversation with teacher Stacy there over the phone to find out more about Lynn. Here are the findings: -

• She did not cry for papa or mama (thumb up for this. :P)
• She will go to the toilet herself when she needs to pass motion
• She uses the toilet instead of potty (at home, she's using the potty)
• She drinks very little water (oh girl, you need to drink more water)
• She does not talk to the teachers there (I wonder why)
• She talks to other children in Mandarin (the medium used in the child care is English)
• She will follow the teacher's instructions according to her mood (as expected)
• Accidents of wetting the bed when taking afternoon nap had happened quite a number of times (strange this does not happen at home during the weekend though). So the teacher will take her to the toilet in the middle of the nap

It is interesting and surprise to me that Lynn does not talk to the teachers there. Lynn is a sociable child since she was a baby. So is that means she did not ask or demand for anything? At home, she always ask for biscuit, candies etc. And even if Lynn does not talk in English in the child care center, we do notice that Lynn uses more English words when talking to us (we are trying to talk solely in English to her too). Just like yesterday morning, she started to talk in sentence to us "Di Di go home".

Oh my car

I was so bad luck. My new car was being knocked down by a lady end of last month. We were heading for lunch with the family after visiting the child care center. We were on the queue waiting to make a u-turn in Jalan Cheras. As usual, the traffic was quite heavy due to it was Saturday afternoon. I was drinking my soup inside the car while the 2 kids were taking their nap. Suddenly a "bang" and I was thrown up a bit and the soup were all over my pants and the seats. I quickly check out the baby and the girl. Luckily both were fine and continue sleeping. Not to be bothered by what had just happened.

We drove in to the furniture mall nearby to take a look at the car. Well, it was quite badly hit. The MyVi car that hit us was not that bad, just some minor scratches. I felt very "sum tong" to see my new car being smashed and become out of shape. *cry*

Due to the busy work schedule, I managed to send the car for quotation and repair 2 weeks later in mid of October. Guess how much price I get quoted to fix the car? It was more than RM2000 ! I got shocked over the price. According to the person in-charge, the bumper and the back light need to be replaced (as the part that was holding it was broken). Just the parts itself already cost slightly more than 1k. Then the workmanship for the painting etc cost anothern 1k. So in total when I pay the bil it was closed to RM2100.

I pity the lady who hit my car. She was driving her friend's car. So she has to pay her friend as well as us. And she does not earn much. She proposed to pay by 4 installments to us. Me and hubby had to trust her and agreed on that. My brother and his wife think that we were too kind.

Going to child care center

We send Lynn to a child care center nearby the work place area instead of going to the same new babysitter with Hao. This child care center is recommended by my mom's friend who had sent her son into this same child care previously.

On the way to the child care, I told her that Lynn will be going to school from now onwards. As usual, we just dropped her at the child care and then off to work. I waved to her before I left. Later in the evening, my parents will go pick her up as we will be still at work.

Lynn was well behaved at the child care. She followed the order of the teachers, will go to the potty herself, and she did not cry for mama and papa! Even though she is only 2 years old, some how I can feel that she understand what is going on. She's always my good girl. I hope she will become happier in the child care, with more games, activities and kids there.