Sharing Please ....

^ ^ She is happily munching her cakes while saying “Hhhmmm~~, Yum Yum Yum~~!!!” unwilling to share with mommy :(
Suddenly Angel is not only getting possessive over her belongings but also, she seems to be reluctant to share her food as well lately especially those food that she absolutely loves. Some parenting books did point out that this behaviour and being possessive is what a 2 year old would go through and would evolved through practice and maturity and hence at this stage, I will not be too worried about her actions but instead, hoping to constantly stressing the word “sharing” and finding way to help her understand the wonderfulness of ‘sharing’ part and not all of what she has hoping that one day, it will mean something to her.

^ ^ After much persuasion, she finally did just that by sharing a very very tiny piece bit of her cake with me ………. How generous! (>”<)
Here are something that I would love to do with Angel and would like to share with all mommies who is in my shoe :)

Quoted:

“Tussles over a toy happen often when 2 preschoolers are at play. They can be fiercely protective of their possessions, and sharing is a skill that won’t come naturally to your child for another year or two. In the meantime, help him/her learn:

• Model sharing and use the word “Share”. “Would you like to share my cookie?”
  
• Break up fights by removing the object of debate and moving the kids onto something else: “The car needs to take a rest now. Want to blow some bubbles?”
  
• Casually point out big kids you see sharing.
  
• Hide favourite toys when other kids come to play. Twos shouldn’t be expected to let others use things they’re strongly attached to.
  
• Provide activities for playdates that involved a shared activity that each child can do on her own, like playing with clay or drawing pictures.
  
• Praise your child when sharing does happen. Positive reinforcement is a terrific teacher.”

At this point, Angel still thought that Sharing = Giving up what she loves ……. Maybe that’s one of the reason why she is so afraid to share whatever she truly loves ^_^

Angel 的 (Angel’s).

She is very particular about which belongs to whose lately. Everyday, we would find her telling and distinguishing while pointing at whatever it is in front of her, whether it’s a plate of rice, books, clothing, bottles or even toys, etc.

A: This Ah-Ma 的 (grandma’s)! This Mommy 的 (mommy’s)! This Kung Kung 的 (grandpa’s)!

And her favourite phrase is non other then

A: This Angel 的 (Angel’s)!

Normally those that she distinguished as not belong to hers, she wouldn’t dare to touch them and she understands that they don’t belong to her. For those that she marked as “this is Angel 的 (Angel’s)”, she would claim full authority against them and whenever she picked them up, she would tell us again this belongs to hers and do whatever she likes with them and we cannot say a word :P :P

Of course when it comes to things that is not hers, she sometimes insisted that it is hers and would be crying until we agree that it belongs to her :) So when we refused to let her play with her toy some of the time, she would tell us loudly that it is hers meaning we cannot forbidden her to play with it (>”<). The other day she was holding 3 lollipop and we asked her whose lollipop is that, she divided them one by one but there is 4 of us, and at that point she really got into such a dilemma that the lollipop is not enough for 4 of us but still, insisted that one of the lollipop must belong to her. We joked with her that it is not enough for all of us, she cry out so loudly telling us that “This Angel 的 (Angel’s)!” and running away with all the lollipop in her hands.

I think this would be a right time to expose her to the idea of ‘sharing’ things with others. Normally I would sweet talk to her but still sometimes she would share them but most of the time, she still insist to keep them. I would love her to share things if she really wanted but not turning her into this little person who would give everything out just to please others. Any good ideas on how to teach young toddlers to share??? Mind to share??

Roof Tumbling Down

No no! It’s not that we are having earth quake or typhoon here but that’s how the situation at home at the moment when Angel’s ‘Terrible 2’ symptoms starts to kick in lately. I can hear Angel’s grandma raising her voice more and more everyday until the whole neighborhood could hear her voice (as she herself put it :P :P) while at the same time Angel was screaming on the top of her voice crying and fighting back in order to get what she wants. She has been such a sweet-sweet girl for the past few weeks then suddenly, she starts throwing tantrums very often and making these fake weeping which eventually turned into a real cry! Or worst she would scream-crying on the top of her voice to the point that her face turning red just because someone clean away her plate of rice that she has left behind for hours, or she wants to blow bubbles inside the shopping malls but we told her to wait instead, or she insisted to hold her plate of rice and walk with it then suddenly the rice tipped over and all spilled on the floor :( Distracting her attention seems to getting tougher as she could recalled quite well what she was ‘fighting’ for and doesn’t seems to be easily distracted by other stuffs as previously would! She wants it means she wants it now and it can last for a good 10 – 15 minutes while she will still be crying terribly for that particular things that she wants.

Sometimes she would called us and before she could get a responses, she would hit us hard in frustration then only realized what she did and then cry out loud in frightening, frustration and feeling sorry all at the same time. Sometimes out of a sudden, she would whipped for no reason (or reason that we couldn’t identify) and try seeking for our attention and if we do not attended to her immediately, she would be screaming at a horrible voice as if she wanted to scream out loud in anger but still controlling her frustration by lowering her voice. When we asked her what happened she would gave us her pity look while pounding on the floor as if she is feeling mad but don’t know how to express herself.

From my observation, she is certainly entering into the terrible 2 stage where a lot of if not all kids her age are going through at the moment. They wanted to do things following their way and their will but yet, they have been constrains with their limited abilities and also the massive DOs and DON’Ts for some reason that they might not want to accept the fact that things are doing it that way. Their world are still evolved in the “individualistic” stage but the true fact is, it’s not and it’s still too hard for them to actually understand. Hence most of the time, they would meltdown in response to frustration and resulted in a crying and angry kid in the making. Any cure for that? At the moment, I find giving her a big loving hug and stroking her head telling her everything was OK and then trying to reason with her after she has calm down seems to work better on her. Of course apart from that, mommy also trying to take a few more then a few deep breathe in order to control the blood pressure :P Any other better ‘magic tricks’ to all mommies who have been through this before???

On the other hand, Angel’s grandma seems to think that this naughty little girl bad behavour simply due to a lack of few good ‘lessons’ already and need a good ‘yelling’ in order to teach her to behave!!! She even said that she would have heart attack soon if there were another Angel no. 2 for her to take care. *laugh* Oh well, I can’t deny that her yell-scolding works wonders some times too (and she totally belief in that) but like I have said, the roof might be tumbling down soon from the yelling and crying in the house lately.

Angel, Angel, when can you be less naughty + fuss lesser and be a happy smiling little Angel again????

My Son n My Daughter

Sometimes …. or I should say most of the time when I bring Angel out for a quick groceries shopping with her normal home wear t-shirt and pants, people will come up to me and told me I have a cute little boy still :) Sometimes people who don’t know us well will think that we actually have a boy back home and they were so surprised to see we brought Angel out wearing a skirt later on the day LoL

^ ^ Doesn't Angel looks just like my cute little ‘Son’ ^_^

I will always try to tie her hair up when we went out during the weekends but sometimes, half way shopping, she will pull her pony tail off her hair or simply pull down her hair clips and told me to “keep” them away @_@ I think she just doesn’t feel comfortable with something on her hair.

^ ^ All set and let's go shopping!! The picture in the lower-middle (with red flowery dress) is her most recent picture, she does look younger then her previous picture ya?
Although she is not really a 'skirt' person but I am glad that I still managed to dress her in those pink little cute dresses I bought. At home, I think her dresses alone are more then the total of me and hubby’s @_@ But not all skirts that she would wear especially those below knee length skirt, fluffy skirt and also those with lots of laces ones. If I ever put on one of those dresses for her, she would cry and wail non stop and even refused to stand up until I take them off her.

^ ^ She can looks very girlish too :)

There was one incident that a friend of Angel's grandma "insisted" that she saw her (Angel's grandma) carrying her 'grandson' despite we told her that she is a girl and show the nicely dressed Angel in front of her, hahahahaha!!! I think she looks girlie when she is in her skirt and also, I won’t be getting the ‘You have a handsome boy!’ type of comments from others too :) I don't mind people mistaken her for a boy actually ^_^ No matter which look, she will still be the sweetest Angel in mommy and daddy’s heart ^_^ Sometimes when people comlemented that I have a handsome boy, maybe I should introduced her as Angelo - my SON :P :P

^ ^ My Sweet little Angel

Our Precious Bonding Moments

Normally it take place in the very early of the day before we even brush our teeth or late at night before Angel went to bed, or sometimes before/after Angel’s afternoon naps ….. That’s our most precious bonding moments where we would snuggling on the bed, and she would be her happiest self and me, the happiest mother on earth cuddling her tide, just like the very first day that she was born .......

We would snuggle inside the warm and cosy comforter for hours, laying side by side staring and smiling at each other for no reason, at times talking and singing any song that comes into our mind, or observing each other from head to toe. I love to touch and feel her little fingers and see how tiny there were still, stroking her soft black hair ...... whilst she loves to poke my eyes (o.O), squeeze my nose, sometimes trying to blow her first morning bad breath onto my face (@_@) and then giggle on the bed happily. Sometimes she would do her koala bear sleep on my tummy but as she is growing taller, she has to stretched herself up to my chest now and I could still smell the last bit of her baby smell from her after shampoo hair. Later in the day, we would also do some 'flying session' where I would supported her up using my leg like a Supergirl, or she would do her balancing stunts using my legs as her platform while I hold on to her hands, or sometimes I would tell her some stories but not from the books (I make them up :P :P), doing some funny voice together, where she loves to follow whatever I say or even making some funny sounds. If the camera is nearby, we would be sticking face to face trying to get a glimpse on the tiny display on our camera checking out our latest pictures, sometimes I would also recoding some videos of her doing various funny actions, or at times taking some Mommy and daughter pictures in our ‘just wake up’ looks and have a good laugh on it :) I love these moments we spend together lazing around doing nothing and we are having such a great time laughing and hugging and kissing each other on the cheeks ....……… until hubby comes in and ‘spoilt’ the fun, hahahaha!! *Just joking*

That’s our most precious bonding moments together ……. what’s yours?

Scribbles On The Wall [2Y3M]

Yes .... another milestone achieved again :P This is what happened when I take my eyes off her for a few seconds while doing my packing. The bad thing was, I always anticipated these on 'our' walls but nope, she done this on her Ah-Gu’s (My brother) wall instead. Urrgghhh!!!! This is her first time and I felt sorry for my brother’s clean piece of wall now decorated with Angel’s scribbles :(

So I show her the scribbles on the wall and told her that she has made the wall dirty and sad. She asked me to wipe it clean (hahahahaha!!) but I demonstrate to her wiping with a piece of wet cloth won't take that off either. I make some story up that it is not the right thing to do as Ah-Gu do not like 'flowers' on the walls but now she drew some flowers on it which is not so nice to do. Then I asked her to walk to her ‘naughty corner’ and stay there for few minutes while she was sobbing for my hug. After few minutes, I give her a big hug and stood her in front of the wall again, asked her if she wants to draw on the wall and make the wall sad again ….., she look at me, nodded and wanted to start scribbling on them again. Once more, I lead her to her little naughty corner and repeat the same thing and told her that pens are meant to scribble on papers and not the wall. She remains at her naughty corner for a few minutes again with some sobbing and crying for a hug. After another hug and I stand her in front of the wall for the 3rd time and asked her whether she wants to draw on the wall, she look at me, then she said, “No! Don’t Want!” then I told her she was doing the right thing and give her another hug (although Angel's grandma keep teasing me that she won't have that patient and time to do all that!!! Her way is smacking! :P :P) The next morning, I handed her a pen and stand her infront of another piece of wall and asked whether she wants to draw on them again, she hesitated then told me “No! Don’t Want! Don't Want! Not Nice ~~~!!” and starts to look for the piece of paper I gave her yesterday :)

I think a few minutes of explanation and make her understand the consequences, making her own decision to do / not to do it and also given her another better choice (i.e.drawing on a piece of paper) really worth the extra afford and time spend in the long run. At least she understands why she’s can’t do it and hence don’t feel like doing it, instead of she wants to do it but she was afraid to do it because I said so ….. Maybe this workds for some kid and not for others so I think the most important thing is to find a method which works for BOTH you and the kid. No one method is the BEST or the WORST but only the Most Workable and Suitable method according to the kid's personality.

I am glad that it all ended well :) But still …… the poor wall with Angel’s signature on it, I am glad that it’s not a huge piece of art work that she decided to do that day, phew!!

The Bliss Of Parenthood and a SAHM :)

Life has been pretty hectic for me lately. Last time while Angel was still a tiny crying baby, I would consoled myself that I will be much free to do my own things and be a little more relax when Angel finally can walk and run and play by herself …………. but I think I am not totally correct, at least not until this moment as yet.

Instead, she naps lesser and lesser nowadays and always wanted my attention to the fullest. She wants me to play with her, read her stories books (while she flips the pages without even listening to me), singing songs to her, etc or else, she will be crying and whining until I give in. When I am making her lunch, now and then I have to peep at her to see if she is climbing the dinning chair, jumping on the sofa, pulling out all my safety corner-guards, shifting our furniture around, attempt to break my safety locks with her 'iron fingers', try to climb on top of our glass coffee table to do her normal stuns or even using her books as her skateboard which is so dangerous, etc. If I saw her doing one of her stuns again, I will have to make my 100 meter ran out from the kitchen, sometimes holding whatever I am holding at that moment still (sometimes vege, sometimes meat, and sometimes even a cooking ladle, etc) to rescue her or stopped her from all the dangerous stuffs that she just loves to do. That is why I do not want a safety gate at my kitchen entrance or else, I will have to jump my hurdle as well which I do not know whether I am going to make it :(

Or else, you will hear me shouting, “Angel Nooooooooooo!!!!!” “Angel don’t do that!!!!” ….. etc from the kitchen as loud as the thunder which I think my whole house did trembled a bit. (I hope I am not getting any complains from the neighbours soon.) Sometimes, a 20 minutes cooking time will be dragged until almost an hour or 2 because I have to stop whatever I am doing just to entertain her or attended to her crying needs. Or else, she will be running into the kitchen pulling my pants and crying out loud ……. Sometimes all she wants is for me to give her a little hug …. (Most of the time, it seems like 1 is not enough but a hug in every minute which means I have to stop whatever I am doing basically.) If she finally naps in the afternoon, sometimes I will find myself sitting on the couch lifelessly and noticed that the morning coffee which I had made for myself is already turning into “Kopi ping” sitting nicely on the kitchen table untouched still. If she were still awake during my lunch time, I will have to eat with one hand holding the spoon and trying to swallow my food as fast as possible and at the same time the other hand is trying to hold / stop her from grabbing my food or pulling my plates away or climbing all over me as if she is the monkey and I am the tree. I think my left hand has been doing a lot of exercise and gaining muscles everyday :P Or else, I will be raising my voice with my mouth full, sometimes almost choked ...... asking her not to climb up or under the dinning table knocking her head or worst, pulling my computer cords trying to pull my notebook down from the table, etc.

I hardly can go online nowadays coz as soon as she sees me with my notebook, she will try to pull my hands away from my laptop and whining at the same time asking me to play with her. While she sleep, I need to quickly get those house chores done plus prepare the dishes for dinner time, dish washing, ironing, etc. Sometimes after hubby gets back from work and had our dinner, I need to rush for another round of groceries shopping while hubby looks after Angel. I need to do the shopping as quickly as possible so that I can rush back to bath Angel before the night gets too cold. To add in the fun, Angel refuses to sleep until it was almost 11pm nowadays but I have to lay in bed with her (with so much things to do and not done yet) which means my private times is really almost gone to NIL by now. Sigh!! I can hardly find time to do my own stuffs let alone blogging nowadays …….

I do hope that this will be just another phase of her growing up because I am already totally drained with 1 kid only. Really cannot imagine if I were to have 2 or 3 if they were all as naughty and as demanding as Angel. This is truly the ‘fun’ of parenthood so I might as well enjoy the ‘fun’ of it and attending to her needs because she will always be the priority in my life :) So if you mommies were to see me disappeared from my blog again, you will now what I have been up to lately :) :) I wonder is it only me or other mommies is also having such a hectic schedule and so much ‘FUN’ with the little ones everyday …… (You know what I mean ………… :P :P)