Little Monkey

When I look at Sean's sleeping face, he looks so angelic.
When I see him smiling and laughing, he is just so adorable.
However, Sean is mostly an active little monkey who can't sit still!
Just last night, he climbed the back of the sofa and fell backwards.
I tried catching him but it was too late, he feel on his neck!

We were so worried because he cried and cried.....
After a while, he stopped and said "ne-ne"
When I carried him up to the room, he waved good-bye to everyone as usual.
I was so relieved because I know that he's alright.

Just this afternoon, he climbed the arm chair to get into the staircase through the side!
When I pulled him off, he threw a major tantrum.
Later, I was trying to feed him some yogurt while he was sitting on the arm chair.
He avoided me and almost fell backward and hit his head on the marble top drawer!

I think from now on, my blood pressure will rise a little each day.
The time when we can leave him on the chair while we do something is over.
Have to keep an eye on him at all times!!!

At least when he is in bed with his books, he's quite a good little boy.
He can occupy himself by turning the pages and pretending to read.
I'm just glad he has one thing he likes that isn't dangerous! =P

18 months!

Time flies... I can't believe that Sean has passed his 18th month.

This is a rare picture of him smiling. Most of my photos have turned out blurred and it's been extra difficult to get a picture of him smiling since he smiles after the camera takes his pictures! =P

What is he like now?

He's a spirited boy who seldom sit still unless he's zoning in front of the TV! Now he doesn't throw tantrums if I don't switch on the TV. He's a little more subtle than that. He runs to his seat to show us what a good boy he is. He expects us to turn on theTV for him when he sits in his chair. ha ha. If we're busy,he'll come after us and run back and forth to his chair.

Although Sean still doesn't speak much, he communicates pretty well by pointing. Maybe it's because we respond to him too fast that he doesn't feel the need to speak much.

His favourite words are : "buk buk" (book), "bok" (box), "neeeee - neeeee"(breast milk), "Brrrr" (car), "Mum mum" (food), "num num" (drink), "da" (can be daddy or mummy, although he can say "ma ma" clearly when he wants to), "Ot" (hot), "izit" (what is it), "de" (there), and an emphasis "unngghh uuuggghhhh" with lots of finger pointing for everything else! The latest thing is he points to his diaper when he poops, and to his mouth when he's teething and it hurts. I hope he'll outgrow this and speak more soon though.

He loves to flip through his books and listen to stories.
His favourite books are:
"The Dinosaur who couldn't sleep" (uncle John's old book),
"Harry and the dinosaur says Raaaahhhh",
And since yesterday "The guide to The Incredibles" which I bought for my nephew and he found on my shelf. He has torn a page, so it's his now. =P

His new toy is the cardboard house that I've been building for him. He'll sit inside with a book and flip it as though he's reading seriously. We'll play Peek-a-boo together through windows. I think he's starting to have an imagination and is learning to do some play acting. One thing great is that he can play by himself now.. ha ha ha, especially since I've been spending so much time raiding gold and seizing people in Knighthood.

He's a warm and loving boy. When I ask him for a kiss, he'll go "mmmuuuaaaahhh", and if Sam is nearby, he'll spread his arm for a group kiss. When we go jalan-jalan, he loves walking while holding both our hands.

He has a few quirks. He walks with a tiptoe which cause him to stumble and fall when he runs too fast. It seems I tiptoe too. I'm not sure since I don't do it consciously. He also has a crouching and side-sliding walk. I don't know where he gets all these from. *roll eyes*.

He likes good music. When he listen to a pleasant song, he'll sway to the rhythm. When he listen to good dance music, he'll do a little jig. Although it's just a lot of arm flaying and jogging feet. It's funny how when we pass a shop playing a good dance music, he'll let go of our hands and do a jig suddenly. I can't help but smile when he does that.

He loves a good joke. He loves the part when Dory speaks whale in "Finding Nemo", and the first time Mator speaks to Lightning McQueen in "Cars". And oh yeah, he loves South Park, much more than anything else, especially Terence and Phillips. Sigh... I'm worried about the language he may pick up.

Mostly, I love the fact that he can understand us so much better now. When Sam and Sean send me to work, I'll tell Sean " Go home and have a nap, ok. And be a good boy." He'll nod sweetly... he he.. so adorable.

It's confirmed. Sean is naughty!

We just came back from meeting Margaret and son, Eugene, for lunch. We went to Ikea Cafe because it has an area for kids. I've had an inkling that Sean is probably not the angel we wish him to be. Today confirmed it!

He's the loudest and naughtiest kid in the kids area! He can't sit still, run around the whole place all the time. We've had to run and chase after him umpteen times. The last time we went there, he pushed a little girl out of the way to play with one of the toys. He's so loud too .....

Everyone must have wondered who's this little kid who makes a lot of noise, going right to the front of the TV and blocking everyone's way, toppling all the chairs, and who keeps running away, causing his mummy to chase after him all around Ikea cafe. *shake head* So naughty.... = }

Bedtime Reading

I have wanted to get into the habit of reading to Sean before bedtime. I try to read to him every night, but he was only interested in flipping pages, not stopping long enough for me to even finish reading the words on the page. However, the last few days, he has let me flip the pages and read the stories to him. So I'm really happy! =D

Although, it doesn't end at one story. He wants to read his favorite books a few times, and of course, he still wants to flip through them himself. But that's okay. I'm just glad that he's finally listening to the stories rather than just flipping through them quickly.

On other things:

I've been hooked of Knighthood, an online game on Facebook. It's Sam's fault! He has been enjoying himself so much playing the game that it intrigued me. So now I'm hooked! Luckily, Sean has been vastly entertained playing in his cardboard house, which I'll blog about when I've finished constructing it. So now I can play online while Sean plays in his house in front of me. I've also been playing Scrabulous regularly on Facebook. Anyone who wants to join on the Scrabulous or Knighthood game, message me! =P

On milk: I've finally found a great combination of milk that will interest Sean. It's still not all smooth sailing. I still need to trick him into drinking, but it's getting better and better. Sean now likes a concoction made of 2/3 Strawberry& Raspberry Yogurt drink with 1/3 full cream milk. Actually he just likes the yogurt drink, but we've decided to add the milk so that he gets his fats since the yogurt drink is 0% fat. This way, he gets to drink some milk!

On Food: It's still difficult. Sam just told me that when he was younger, his grandma had to force him to eat too and he only started liking food when he was in Standard5. So maybe it's just genetics. I haven't asked my mum about me, but I've always been skinny, so maybe I was a difficult eater too.

The Wonder of Having Sons

This isn't a blog of mine. It was sent to me from my friend, Janice, and it cracked Sam and I. The boys in the photos are really naughty! (except for the baby eating the huge watermelon. That's just super cute =D

I wonder if we'll ever go through these when Sean grow older??? Yikes!!!

For those of you who were fortunate to have daughters ONLY, be glad....
be very, very glad...

And you also find out very interesting things when you have sons, like ....

1.) A king size waterbed holds enough water to fill a 2000 sq. ft. house 4 inches deep.

2.) If you spray hair spray on dust bunnies and run over them with roller blades, they can ignite.

3.) A 3-year old boy's voice is louder than 200 adults in a crowded restaurant.

4.) If you hook a dog leash over a ceiling fan, the motor is not strong enough to rotate a 42 pound Boy wearing Batman underwear and a Superman cape. It is strong enough, however, if tied to a paint can, to spread paint on all four walls of a 20x20 ft. room.

5.) You should not throw baseballs up when the ceiling fan is on. When using a ceiling fan as a bat, you have to throw the ball up a few times before you get a hit. A ceiling fan can hit a baseball a long way.

6.) The glass in windows (even double-pane) doesn't stop a baseball hit by a ceiling fan.
7.) When you hear the toilet flush and the words "uh oh", it's already too late.

8.) Brake fluid mixed with WhiteKing makes smoke, and lots of it.

9.) A 6-year old Boy can start a fire with a flint rock even though a 36-year old Man

says they can only do it in the movies.

10.) Certain Legos will pass through the digestive tract of a 4- year old boy.

11.) 'Play Dough' and 'microwave' should not be used in the same sentence.

12.) Super Glue is forever.

13.) No matter how much Jelly you put in a swimming pool you still can't walk on water.

14.) Pool filters do not like Jelly.

15.) VCR's do not eject Peanut Butter & Jam sandwiches even though TV commercials show they do.

16.) Garbage bags do not make good parachutes.

17.) Marbles in gas tanks make lots of noise when driving.

18.) You probably DO NOT want to know what that odour is.

19.) Always look in the oven before you turn it on; plastic toys do not like ovens.

20.) The fire department in East Melbourne has a 3-minute response time.

21.) The spin cycle on the washing machine does not make earthworms dizzy.


22.) It will, however, make cats dizzy.

23.) Cats throw up twice their body weight when dizzy.

Hurricane Sean

Last Tuesday, when Sam and I came home at 10.30pm after BJJ, the living room looked as if a hurricane has run amok inside. Hurricane Sean!

The PIL had a guest and they must have been engrossed in their conversation that they left Sean to his own devices. He overturned his ball pit and strewn all 200 balls and his toys all over the floor. All the dining room chairs, excepts the ones being sat on, were toppled. Even his armchair was toppled! (I still don't know how a 17 month old baby toppled an arm chair by himself * roll eyes*) And of course, he was watching the TV all the way in front, as close possible to the screen. He also had poop in his diaper and from the smell and texture, it looked like he had pooped some time ago. When mummy isn't home, all hell broke loose! ....shake head...

So Sean has found a new game....Toppling big objects.

The next few days, Sean would topple chairs whenever he could. I, of course, stopped him, especially since his feet almost got squashed several times. Yikes! My FIL though said to let him do it since he enjoys it, never seeing it as an accident waiting to happen! I know that it's grandparents privilege to spoil their grandchildren, but I wish they would at least not be so easy going about letting Sean do anything he wants to do.

I have had to chase him round the dining table, stopping him from toppling the rather heavy wooden chairs and admonishing him. It has taken days to undo the damage of one night of no rules. I have had to re-established the TV rule too. Sometimes I spend half and hour switching the TV on and off before he'll sit long enough to watch a show. Sean isn't that naughty, but he is a curious and adventurous toddler who needs to have boundaries set around him.

The TV Rule

I was growing concerned about the amount of TV watching Sean had been doing. One of the reason is that everyone at home likes to watch TV and everyone, including myself, has used the TV as a way to occupy Sean when we need to do something. Bad habits!

Another concern of mine was that Sean liked to watch really close to the TV. He practically walks right up. So we've used the coffee table as well as the foot rests to block the TV to give him at least 1 meter away from the TV.

I still found it too close to my liking, so I decided on a little experiment. Sean has to sit on a chair if he wants to watch TV. No more walking right up to the front. I use "Cars", his favorite movie, for the experiment. We put one of the lower arm chair (so he can climb in and out of the chair easily) in the TV area for him to sit on. He has to sit there or anywhere else that's at least 2 meters away. Whenever he moves to the front of the TV, I'll pause or switch the movie off. Of course this erupted in many tantrums at the beginning.

Sam couldn't understand at first why I was being so "strict". He said that he was brought up on TV and doesn't see anything wrong with it. Yeah right.... Sam's idea of baby sitting Sean is to let him watch South Park! Now when I need Sam to occupy Sean while I do something, his trick is South Park, which I don't really approve of. I've asked Sam to find something else besides South Park. Unfortunately, the "Cars" dvd doesn't work in the PC. Even "The Three Mousketeers" and "Nemo" doesn't divert Sean's attention as well as South Park. So Sam still has to find something else to entertain Sean. If possible, something not TV related.

I'm not really against TV in general. I still watch TV together with Sean. But there needs to be some rule regarding the amount and the way he watches it.

But the experiment is working. Last week, Sean was watching 'Johny & The Sprites". The Astro doesn't work when it rains heavily. The TV turned blank. Sean went to the remotes and "tried" to fiddle with them. When he saw me, he quickly scurried to his chair... he he he...He thought I switched the TV off because he was in front of the TV again. I said to him "It's not mummy this time round." Since he behaved so well, I let him watched DVD in the room instead. Reward for good behavior ha ha ha... It's just so funny to see his face when he realized that he broke the rule and then scurried to the chair.

Now he doesn't insist on watching his "brrr brrr" movie when we go downstairs anymore. I let him walk around the living room to find something to interest him. I try not to switch the TV on for as long as possible. So of course I don't really watch TV anymore. Later on he'll ask to watch TV. Since he has behaved well, I let him watch, but not as much as he used to. I still let him watch other movies in the room when he's restless though. One step at a time. At least experiment No.1 works! =D

Mummy controls the remote! Yeah!