may 8 2012

after he stops crying, i cry

rands and i thought it a good idea to enrol aren in a summer program like a structured class in order to prepare him for preschool. having been born in january, his age is the cutoff for preschool requirements, such that he will either be the youngest in his class if we enrol him this school year and risk being academically behind, or he will be the oldest in his class if we enrol him next year, but he might have a better chance to be able to cope. we also wanted him to learn to socialize and improve his expressive speech.

in november, we signed him up for such a program, but it was too far from our house and aren got past the 1st session only -- it was always a crying bout for us to force him to even enter the classroom. we eventually stopped trying.

prior to 1st day in cdc, we visited the classroom twice in order to familiarize him with the atmosphere. on april 16, he entered the classroom but cried for the first few minutes. he warmed up to the teacher but did not participate very much in the activities. on the second day, he almost did not enter the classroom, but i coaxed him by mentioning that he will play in the slide later on. teacher let me take him inside the classroom but i left him there immediately. he cried for the first few minutes of free time.

on the third day, we entered together, but when i said goodbye to him, he started crying and teacher immediately took him away. on the 4th day, we entered the classroom together and teacher greeted him, he reached for her hand and went to look for activities inside. no tears! even the teacher was surprised and looked back to me smiling. i almost could not believe it either! my little boy has grown up.

(Teacher picked him as weather watcher for the day!)

throughout the session, i watched from the observation deck and saw that he has started to follow the actions of the songs, did the art projects by himself, wandered around the room exploring things. in time, he will integrate himself fully with his classmates and teachers. the day he stopped crying, it was my turn.

little star!

his own version of twinkle twinkle little star :) his words are not clear yet, but i'm proud of him just the same -- good job for someone who's not very musically-inclined :)

don't worry anak, we'll work on your expressive speech asap... no time to lose!

collection

i don't collect a lot of things. when i was younger, i was a sticker and stationery addict (like probably many of girls of my generation). in fact, some of them were very special that i still have them until now, unused.

as far as i remember, i didn't have any other collection, like say, barbie dolls, video games, hair clips, shoes, or bags. even in my adulthood and capable of buying my own stuff, i did not have the "mentality" of buying just to collect. i hardly wear makeup, i'm not into clothes fads, my feet are too big for designer shoes, i can be contented with cloth bags for my everyday use.

however, i do have one collection, that was not even from my own initiative of starting. presenting, my agatha christie paperbacks....



when i was in college, my sister's best friend lent her a book, which i borrowed later. i loved the plot so much that i started to get interested in murder mysteries, especially agatha christie. the book that started it all for me was "the body in the library." then i started borrowing from the... eherm, library. i love hercule poirot, her sleuth character! i'm learning about the art of deduction by reading them.

i did not buy my first personal copy until i was already working. and even then, i bought second hand ones only. after all, the author has long since been dead and never again published new works. her books were decades old. rands picked up my interest and slowly procured the books for me. he went through every booksale outlet, curio shop, art store, and just about any tiangge that sold second hand books, and bought all the agatha christies there! he would give them to me on special occasions as gifts; i wrote on the first page the date that i received them... as far as i know, the early dates were 2005.

i would read one book when i travelled to work. when i finished, i would immediately get another one from the pile. i would know that i had read that book through the bus ticket that i had inserted as marker. it also served as date when i finished reading it! i wanted to finish the entire collection asap!

unfortunately after i got married, i left my collection in our house when i moved out. i had forgotten about it all throughout my pregnancy and taking care of my baby. however, now that my son is already 3 years old, i suddenly craved for the habit of reading again. going through the books, many of them had no bus tickets inserted yet, or many still in plastic wrap... yup, it won't be long until you are all read, mon ami!

since the last post

here are some developments regarding aren since my last post:

1. he knows how to poop in the potty already! hasn't pooped in his diaper for over a month.
2. we wear diapers only during afternoon nap or sleeping at night or going out. (yey for our budget!)
3. it was my first time to literally step on po-p in the bedroom hahahah! i was crazy tired that afternoon, i fell asleep while he was playing, only to wake up a few minutes later with him already napping beside me. i stood up, my foot squished something soft and cold (we don't eat in the bedroom, so it's not food). i was so surprised, and later amused.
4. he can already pee in the toilet! since our last potty training, he can already pee standing up, and this time he does it in the big bowl itself! which brings me to the next item....
5. he's grown an inch in a month! we record his height every month on his birthdate, and for the past year, he has been registering only a few centimeters every month. i was so surprised to see the last improvement!
6. could it be his milk? for almost two months already, i've been slowly changing his milk from enfagrow a+ to nido 3+. for the first week, i replaced one scoop of formula with one scoop of nido. the next week, i replaced two scoops, then three, until finally, we're down to the last pouch of formula that i plan to still mix (half scoop) with his nido. i had no problems introducing the new milk because he never noticed the difference!
7. for the first time, i was poked in the forehead with a ballpen. yes, it bled.
8. he can spell his name (the four letters at least).

still a long way to go with other milestones. talking for instance... we barely are a month away from his 3rd birthday and he's still not speaking clearly. i still think he's going to do so in time... but part of me is already worrying...

my other projects are (still) getting him to eat regular meals during mealtimes, getting him to take vitamins and meds from a spoon. next up, i hope we can be totally diaper-free forever and not have accidents, i hope we can totally discard the bottles and drink milk from a cup/glass, i hope we can appreciate coloring/music more.

and yes, the talking. ok ok judge me and my parenting... *sigh*

success is spelled with a p

for my long sem break, i had planned on lots of training activities for aren. but two days before i return to work, i have been successful with one only --- potty training :)

however, not entirely too, because he refuses to sit for poop time. (i feel i have to defend myself with this because aren is slightly constipated because of his diet, so he doesn't poop on a regular basis, which makes it a little harder to "practice" on the potty. ok more on my diet woes later... in fact that was one of my other plans in the list) so my success with the potty is for pee! i consider this quite an achievement for my part because i do not have the same "elements" as aren that he can model. it was all basically routinary, and it was easier because he had all the readiness signs:

-irritated at the feeling of a wet diaper

-can stay dry for at least an hour at a time

-although he cannot speak clearly yet, he can signify his intention of going to the bathroom

-can pull his own shorts/pajama down

after all, he was already 2 years and 9 months old. actually, i have tried starting this before, but a weekend did not seem enough, and online literature said it was a bad idea to "start and stop" when it came to potty training. but slowly, my mom and i took off his diaper in the morning and asked him once in a while if he needed to pee. a few months ago, we always had accidents, but we simply considered it as part of the process.

day 1 of my sem break, i was determined to take this seriously. he took my hand to the bathroom and peed on the floor. that day he pooped squatting on the bathroom floor because he vehemently did not want to sit on the potty (at least it's a start, he didn't need the diaper anymore!). as the days progressed, he began to pee into the potty, he pulled down his shorts by himself, did not have to need the diaper while napping or at night (actually i'm still scared about this. i've tried it only once, and i still put a diaper on him when he's still sleeping), tried to pee into the big toilet bowl. until one time, i was in the kitchen and he was left alone for a while in the room when i heard the bathroom door pushed open. i rushed up and i saw him with his shorts on the floor, aiming for the potty! i was soooo amazed! he did not have to take my hand to take him to the bathroom! what a big boy!

i admit we're still not 100% diaperless yet. like i said, we still have to master pooping in the potty. we're still wearing diapers while napping and sleeping at night and when going out for errands or a trip. but for me, it has been a big improvement! that's 2-3 less diapers during the day, which is very timely because i just discovered that our brand has raised its price last week! and also, less nonbiodegradable trash for landfills.

well, the other plans in my list can wait, probably during the next long weekend. but it doesn't mean i will stop trying. the key i think is to set a routine for toddlers. after a few days they will realize that you will never stop or give up on what you want them to master, so maybe, just maybe they will pick up the hint. (i'm really crossing my fingers! because the others in my list are really important ones! sort of life and death sometimes :)

ms universe

It's like I won Miss Universe....

I don't know but that's how I feel :)

Maybe it's because I've never won too many raffles or contests in my life, or because I didn't have to do so much to comply with the requirements asked for.

I feel like it's a really big blessing... like a reward for all the effort I've so far put into thesis writing.

After all, a grant is no joke, I mean, all the money I spend for reproduction of materials, printing of drafts, transportation and communication expenses, representation allowance (i.e., tokens to respondents or special people who have helped me).

Well, an announcement that is posted on the bulletin board outside the Office of the College Secretary is different from a real check that I'm holding in my hands. Hmmm, let's wait and see....