Sean playing hide and seek wih Daddy

He's terrible at hiding of course, he'll hide behind cupboard doors with his bottom and feet sticking out, or hide his face behind a ball while laying on the floor, or hiding behind armchair in view of everyone. As long as he can't see his Daddy, he thinks that he's hiding. But what's really funny is the hide and seek procedure. It went like this:

Daddy: 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9... hmmm...what's after 9?
Sean: 10!
Daddy: 10. Hmmm... where is Sean?
Sean: Here! (jumps out of hiding place)

Daddy: 1....,2.....,3......,4.....,5.....,6.....
Sean: 7,8,9,10!
Daddy: 7....,8.....,
Sean: 9, 10!
Daddy: 9....,10! Hmmm where is Sean? Is he in the drawer?
Sean: No
Daddy: Hmmmm is he behind the chair?
Sean : No (giggling)
Daddy: Is he in the telephone?
Sean: Taaa Daaa (jumps out of hiding place)

The rest are funny too, but these two are the ones I remember. He really cannot hide well. He just can't stand the suspense but he loves the game. I guess, we don't play it often enough.

I'm glad that Sean and Daddy have found a game they like playing together. =D

Learning how to teach Sean to read- part 1

I borrowed a book called "Teach your child to read in 60 days". It's a very old book so I'm not sure whether the method that the author used is out of date or even correct, but it got me started on the idea of teaching Sean to read. Then I borrowed another book called "Reading and writing with Letterland", which promptly confused me because the 2 books contradict each other on how to begin. The first book says that we should start with capital letters, the later book says we should start with small letters.

The second book also says that we shouldn't start with the alphabet because it is useless when teaching a child how to read. I think it's true. I tried teaching Sean something simple, the word 'cab' because it's made up of the letter 'a', 'b', and 'c' with wooden alphabet blocks. Sean is so ingrained in his alphabet that he kept moving the blocks back to 'abc' sequence. He kept insisting that it should be 'abc' and not 'cab'...Uh Oh..... Maybe we shouldn't have taught him his alphabet so thoroughly. =P

And then you're suppose to sound each word phonetically and it's not that easy because if you don't sound it correctly, then it doesn't work. I need to learn how to say each letter phonetically correct first before I can teach Sean anything. But another website says that we don't really need to emphasise too much on phonetic because half the english words do not follow phonetic rules anyway.

So after trying a few methods the last few days and not getting Sean's interest in reading, I decided that I'm just going to have to read up more about this before actually embarking on the project 'Teach Sean to Read', just in case I'm teaching him incorrectly. I haven't finished reading both books yet. I've only glanced through them quickly. This is going to take some time.

However, I got impatient. =P

As I was reading to him one of his favourite book " The Little Red Car". I decided to teach him to read just one word "car" which was repeated on every page of the book. I got him to spell it and say the word, and then to find the word on every page of the book. It works! He knows how to read "car" now.

Then I got him to read the word "man", "woman", "boy" and "girl" from another story book. I think he got them too, but I'm not so sure since it wasn't repetitive like "car" and there were pictures on each page. And that was it, he was too sleepy to do more. This technique is called "Sight word reading" which is useful but may not help in teaching to read unknown words. Phonetics is still a better technique to go, but to do that I've got to learn it properly first. =P

Oh yeah, my father-in-law gave Sean 2 "Peter and Jane" books to get me to teach Sean to read a while back. Supposedly that was how they taught Sam to read. The books are so boring that I just cannot muster the interest to read it more than a few times to Sean. It's such a turn-off that each time I read it, I lost my interest in reading! I've hidden the books so I will not have to read it, ha ha ha....=P

So I'm still learning now and any advice would be welcome. =D

First time in Cinema

Almost forgot to blog about this.

Last Friday we had no electricity again. We went to Playgroup as usual in the morning but I had to teach in the afternoon. So Sam and Sean had to go and look for something to do by themselves, somewhere with air conditioning.

So Sam took Sean to see a movie, "Star Trek". They both had a great time. Shuck I wasn't there with them but now at least Sean can sit still in a cinema and we all can go to the movies!

I'm looking forward to the new Pixar movie "UP". It looks like a really fun movie to watch. =D

Finally I let go

Today is the 5th day Sean went to Nakorn Sari. He was particularly clingy this morning and kept going out to look for me, who was sitting on a bench outside a glass door, every 5 minutes. He could see me from inside but No.... this little boy of mine wants to be with his mummy all the time.

I think the fact that I'm so accessible makes it harder for Sean to get on with school. Of course it's more fun to be with mummy, but I wanted him to join the class and participate. Finally I told the teacher to lock the door from inside. The next time he wanted to go out, I just smiled at him and wave at him as he cried while trying to open the door. The teacher came and took him into the room where the students are and got him calmed down.

I made my coffee and got ready to wait the morning. After a while, I realized my little boy wasn't appearing at the glass door anymore looking for me and he was with the rest of the class. He wasn't always listening to the teacher but at least he was with them. So I decided, this is it. It was time to leave. I have to let go and trust that he'll be ok.

When he looked for me later on, the teacher just told him I went to the toilet ..... ha ha

When we came to pick him up, the teacher said he was ok but was rather naughty ha ha ha.... I told them that they can be a bit more strict with Sean. Well, they are not very strict at all, but I told them they can be more firm with Sean. =P

I guess like everything else I do with Sean, breastfeeding and toilet training, I took a longer time to let go. I'm sure most mummies don't sit at school the whole morning waiting for their sons to get comfortable in school for several days. What's the point of sending them to school right?

But I'm glad I did it my way because Sean joined the school activities with minimum fuss, I think he cried for less than a minute. And at the end of the day, we peeked on him and he looked truly settled down. No more looking for mummy. =D

Sean @ 32 months

Toilet trained!

The most exciting thing that happened today is that Sean has refused to wear his diaper!
He's on his way to being toilet trained!

As I blogged last month about trying to toilet train him. I got him to be diaper-less to get him used to the feeling of not wearing a diaper. I wasn't very disciplined at it, and only managed to do it for 1-2 hours a day, and not even everyday. Over many months I tried on and off but never seriously. Actually I really wasn't sure how to get about doing it properly and therefore I've been procrastinating.

I talked to several mothers who have toilet trained their children or who are also trying to potty train and got some tips from them, but what really got me started this week was reading a toilet training book while waiting for Sean in his kindergarten on Tuesday. So I borrowed and it took me several days to finish reading it since I could only read it when I was free. Meanwhile, I started on the techniques they suggested.

Since Sean refused to even sit down on the potties we have at home, we decided to get another one that looks like a chair the next day. I also bought him some big boy's underwear which he found quite exciting.I got his Spiderman doll to pretend to pee in the potty, and gave him an M&M as a treat. Then I invited Sean to sit on the potty and gave him an M&M too. All the while, saying big boys pee and poo in the potty.

Since we put a diaper on him when we go out or sleep, he didn't really get much diaperless time. But I keep repeating to him,
Me: "Where do you go to pee?"
Sean: "Toilet"
Me: "Where do you go to poo?"
Sean : "Toilet"
Me: " Yes, you are a clever boy. You poo poo in the potty ok?"

He poo-ed in the potty even on the first day we bought the new potty. Once, I wasn't quick enough once and he pooped standing up while he had no diaper on so the poop dropped onto the floor and the carpet, and then he made a big puddle just 10 minutes after that. It was a messy evening, I gave up and put him back in his diaper after 1 hour.

Anyway, I thought today (Sunday) is a good day to do more potty training since we aren't going out. This morning he had tummy ache and I quickly grabbed him and raced him to the toilet, and sat him down onto the old potty since we were downstairs. He did his number 2. I praised him a great deal for pooping in the potty. And then later he got another tummy ache (he had been a slight diarrhea the last few days), so I quickly rushed him off to the potty again.Whew.... you really need to be quick!

After that he had a peeing accident. I didn't scold him but reminded him that he has to pee in the toilet. And then later managed to catch him befor he peed and run with him to the toilet. It was all done in a fun way. So when nap time comes. I told hubby to put on a diaper on Sean while I make his milk (Yes! He's been accepting chocolate milk recently). When I got back to the room, I was told that he refused to put on the diaper. This is the conversation that went on.

Daddy: Sean, diaper on.
Sean: No
Daddy: What if you pee-pee?
Sean: Toilet!
Daddy: What about poo-poo?
Sean: Potty!

I got him to pee in the potty and put him to nap diaper-less! That is a great Mother's Day present for me: Sean wanting to pee and poo in the potty and not wearing diaper all on his own. It's a big leap for a boy who cried when I didn't put his diaper on. And all done in less than a week! =D

I've got to say that I didn't follow all the instructions from the book and I didn't follow the instructions correctly either. But Sean did poop in the potty within the first few hours of simple training. I think it was also helpful that he saw other children going to the toilet without diapers at school.

So if you're thinking of toilet training, get this book first "Toilet Training in Less than a day" by Nathan H. Azrin and Richard M. Foxx and read it. It'll save you the worry and hassle of training the old way.

In fact, If you follow the book correctly, your child would be able to pee or poo in the toilet and then carry the bowl and throw into the toilet and flush all by him or herself. It was just me who wasn't disciplined enough to follow all the instructions. I just took what was easy to do and probably did the training in a half-ass way. =P


"Drink Milk Good for Teeth!"

I tried all sorts of milk to get Sean interested in drinking milk. He gets interested for a while and then refused anymore. We even thought that he might be allergic to milk. So I didn't always push it.

The kindergarten has been getting the kids geared up for the "Visit to the Dentist" outing. So they've been singing about brushing teeth, which unfortunately Sean didn't listen to. But what got him interested was an activity they did.

The teachers got them to mix flour with water and put into an empty cartoon of milk, and pasted a piece of paper. "Drink Milk Good for Teeth!". So I took up the chant at home "Drink Milk Good for Teeth!" and that really help him to see milk in a different way. He's finally got a liking for chocolate milk. =D


Visit to the Dentist

As I said the kindergarten brought the kids out for a visit to the dentist. They psyched them up for several weeks with singing and crafts about brushing teeth, and the dentist had a cool tool to attract the children. He had a small mouth camera so the kids can see inside their mouth. It was just to introduce them to the dentist so they won't be scared of dentist.

I knew Sean has bad teeth because 2 of his front teeth are eroded and I suspected he has some cavities. I've been trying to clean his teeth but it's been difficult. Firstly, he wants to brush his own teeth, which means that it's not cleaned well. Next, when I get the chance to brush it for him, the yellow and black areas just won't go away.

I think I dreaded the dentist visit more than Sean since he didn't know any better. I've been reducing his sweets and sugary drinks, but I think it's too late. True enough! The dentist said that Sean has TOTAL DECAY. He keeps telling me that it's ok and that Sean's situation is not that bad but we have to maintain it. But well.... you hear "Total Decay", you're definitely worried!

But then, there's nothing much we can do except maintaining the teeth until the permanent teeth comes out. And then we can start anew. Oh yeah, I've got to remind any mummies who are breastfeeding or planning to breastfeed to clean the mouth and teeth thoroughly if you breastfeed to sleep. Clean after every feed!

In Sean's case, it's most likely because he breastfeeds to sleep and then continues to breastfeed throughout the night. So eventhough we brushed his teeth before we go to sleep, it wasn't much help because he had milk throughout the night and I was too sleepy to clean his teeth in the middle of the night. So it's probably better not to let them breastfeed in the midle of the night.

Anyway, all I can do right now is be more vigilant in cleaning Sean's teeth and get him to clean his teeth properly. So by the time he gets his permanent teeth, he already knows how to care for them well. I'm dreading the time we have to visit the dentist to get his current teeth filled. Oh no... it'll probably be traumatic for him and me!

3rd day at Nakorn Sari

Last Wednesday, I had to stay within sight and in the same classroom with Sean, otherwise he would cry and refused to stay.

Today, things were better. I stayed the whole 31/2 hours at the school while Sean had his lessons. In the morning I walked him into his classroom and stayed for a few minutes, and kept telling him ' Mummy cannot stay inside, I'll be outside' It went pretty well. He still came out and looked for me every 20 minutes, and I would walk him into the classroom again. In the meantime, I had my coffee, chatted with a grandmother who was accompanying her grandson who is also a new student, and read a book.

The separation anxiety has lessened. He no longer tears up if he doesn't see me at every moment. In fact, I think it's easier if I don't hover around too close. It seems the moment he sees my face outside the classroom he tears up and wants to get out. So I made myself scarce. He pooped and the teacher cleaned him up. I didn't interfere. After all, when I'm not there in the future, the teachers will have to handle all these things.

I also told the teachers that they can be a bit more tough on him and spell out the rules to him. To tell him that at school he has to listen to the teachers. Although I don't want to put Sean in a school that is too regimented, I feel that a certain level of discipline is good for Sean.

At the end of playgroup, the teacher told me that Sean had made a friend already, and should be ready to be left at school after several more days. And once he can be dropped off by himself, maybe I can go for an exercise class. Woo Hooo!!!....=P