Attempt #92385 at potty-training : FAIL!

(Her smile here really looks like Meng's, doesn't it?)

Many parents have been blogging about their potty-training success/progress as early as when their kids turn 1YO. Me, I never! Why? I tell friends I didn't find it crucial for her to be stressed out going diaperless. And then,.. I add "It's also because I am lazy". Most moms can understand that even as a stay-at-home-mom, there are other more pressing issues or higher priority errands to complete in our day-to-day management of the house & the kiddo.

Anyway, I think I properly started in summer of last year. She was 2YO and could understand simple instructions so I thought it would be a good idea. It didn't work, so now I am trying again.
Why I failed :

1. Inconsistent
Some days diaper off, some days on. Usually I find it too tiring the next day after a full day of diaperless having to wipe, disinfect, clean her & changing her to new trousers. So the next day I just left her diaper on. Recipe for failure!

2. No follow-through
Sometimes after a minor-accident, I rush her to the toilet & tell her to "shuu shuu" there. I stand there for a minute & then left her to do her stuff. I'd be cleaning up the accident-site. I asked her "Did you shuu shuu?", "YES MOMMY! I also wash my hands already!". I will accept her answer & that's it. I never knew or have actually seen her peeing, to be honest. She could be taking me for a ride all this while.

It also didn't help that the pre-school that I want to enrol her in this Sep says not to force them to go diaperless. "Let them naturally get used to it & master it". Hey, I love this motto.

But enrolling her into Ballet last week, I was instructed that they need to be diaperless. So here I am, TRYING my hardest to make this work. She just had 1 accident so far & now she is sleeping with a diaper. Tomorrow, we will not be continuing this again because we will be going out. Maybe when we come back I can let her roam free without her diaper. We'll see. **Big sigh**

Puzzles

Continuing from her fascination with puzzles, she has been trying to tackle more "complicated" pieces. Since last week, she will sit down quietly & patiently piecing this 48-piece puzzle that my brother and his girlfriend got for Shean Wenn.

That day she came running to me displaying proudly her finished work! Well done. This, is definitely not from my genes because I never liked playing with puzzles, I have no patience for it & will give up before I even start the job. Nevertheless, I am so glad she isn't like me in this case!

"Look mom, I did it!", I heard her little voice say as the pitter-patter of footsteps came running over.

48-piece puzzle

"Now you do it!" - she seemed to be saying (not that she really said it out)
Lest you think this is amazing, I have heard my friend telling me that her daughter (who is now almost 5YO) when at around SW's age, finished a 100-piece puzzle all on her own.

Wordless Wednesday 04/10

Oh, what a week!

The past week has been "eventful".

The hub flew off on Tue to somewhere in North Africa. The same day, I had invited my friend Laura over for lunch. Five minutes before she arrived, there was a small accident in the kitchen - something fell on something and causing everything to come crashing down, and my pyrex with the wat tan hor in it crashed to the ground & smashed into a hundred pieces. Needless to say, we did not have lunch at home that day. After cleaning up, Laura suggested we go out for lunch. We ended up in Nandos.

(The extent of the volcanic ash. Image from BBC News)

Thur morning I read reports of the Eyjafjallajoekull volcano ash disrupting flight services in the UK. When I first read it, the grounded rule should only apply to 1800 that evening. Meng was due to fly back the day after. However by Thur afternoon, flights were cancelled until early Sat morning. He rescheduled for a Sat PM flight but that had to be cancelled too. More disruptions ensued. On BBC website today, a grim message reads "The UK is enduring a fourth day as a virtual no-fly zone, as the travel chaos caused by volcanic ash drifting from Iceland shows no sign of ending."

Shean Wenn misses her dad alot. Her mornings, when he will the the one cheerfully greeting her & picking her up from her cot, has being replaced with a grumpy & very sleepy mommy. First few days of Meng's absence, I had to leave her in her cot for a few minutes to give her some "time-out sessions" because she simply didn't want MOMMY! After she has gathered her thoughts (usually by singing to herself or just playing), she will call out for me again.

The volcanic ashes travel chaos continues...... Meanwhile, on twitter-land, volcanic jokes are making the rounds, one chuckles "Last time you Poms (read : Brits) got the Ashes you were over the moon. There's no pleasing some people." Another witty one "Heard on the radio "Britain to Iceland : "We said send cash, not ash!""

To top off the eventful-ness, our dear daughter last night decided to play with the curtains despite me warning her few minutes before that not to do so, she must have tugged and pulled on it really hard because the curtain & the rods came tumbling down. It scared her. Luckily she is fine. But she still deserved a few smacks on the bottom for misbehaving.

Kind friends have been nice enough to go out lunches with me, or bring me to the shops to do my grocery shopping. :)

On more positive notes : This week, weather-wise it has been fabulous! Average of 15c (but felt like 19c) and highs of 19c (which would mean if you stand in the sun, it may feel like 24c. VERY WARM!). Just too bad Meng isn't here to enjoy the glorious sunshine with us. Hopefully he will come back as scheduled in the next few days & 3 of us will be a happy family again. Yayy!



The Chip-Peas bought a trunki for Shean Wenn as early birthday present & she gets to choose it. Trunki is a luggage/ride-on/pull-along. She chose a ladybird design. It arrived within 2 days & she is so ecstatic! She was riding it at home telling me "Ok, bye bye mommy, I'm going to the supermarket." "Hi mommy, I am back! I bought some vegetables" - when asked what vegetables? "Carrots & tomatoes".

A really ingenious product for the kids, especially to while away their time at the airport!

The REALLY NOISY fishing game!

4 April 2010 : Shean Wenn @ 33 Months Old

This weekend being Easter Long weekend (Good Friday is a Bank Holiday* & Monday is a replacement holiday for Easter Sunday), saw us spending our Friday in a shopping mall. Meng went "mad" shopping for Shean Wenn at the toy dept.

Toy 1 : This "create & play" toy from ELC.

(Request of the day 5 Apr 2010 : A dog!)

It consists of chunky shapes, nuts & bolts and you can assemble & create various designs with it - the box gave many different ideas such as a robot, trucks, a car, shopping trolley & a wheelbarrow!

When we got home, SW excitedly told us she wants to build a car. Meng taught her what is a screwdriver & a spanner. And she helped out Meng with the whole project and was very very enthusiastic with it too. The next day, she asks daddy to make a truck for her. After seeing that there is a shopping trolley that she can also build with it, she requested us to help her build one. So, this time MUMMY dearest - the "engineer", had to help her out. I sat down with her & taught her the nuts & bolts too. The good thing is, daddy also taught her a system to arrange the nut & bolt together so she was very good at it. We build ourselves a nice looking trolley, but obviously not nice enough for her because she then "demanded" that I should put flowers on it. She looked for the flower petals in the box - and found it (I told her they didn't give it to us, but not satisfied with my answer, she rummaged until she found it!).

(Shean Wenn's very own shopping trolley - created with help from mummy!)

Toy 2 : THE VERY NOISY FISHING GAME!

Oh boy, the title says it all. Actually I have been telling Meng that Shean Wenn will sometimes swing her scribbler board by holding to its pen. When asked in horror what is she doing : she replies she is FISHING! Where did she get the idea from? I really don't know. But I was SO afraid she might swing it and it accidentally fly off from her grasp & hit herself, or the tv, or me! So Meng says let's just buy her a fishing game if we can find it. We managed to find one in Smyths and bought it straightaway . Meng also bought a Hello Kitty DVD, and 2 Wiggles DVD for her.

This is a video of her "fishing" - this was taken this morning, her first morning playing with it! She is very excited because everytime she comes home from outside, she will run to find it and sit down & fish!



NOTE : * Bank Holiday = Public Holiday