Timid or Careful?

Nowadays, we think ZX has become more & more timid…

Scenario 1:
A few weeks back, we brought him to the Malay barber. He started crying once we’re at the front door and refused to get into the shop. So, we didn’t force him.
We’ve been asking him for many a times since then and all his answers were “No! Bu Yao!” and shook his head vigorously. How how? Are we going to let him keep long hair like a girl? :P

Scenario 2:
In the hot weather these days, ZX has scratched himself pretty badly until he’s got skin infection. And again at the clinic’s front door, the whines started. It also took me a while to persuade him to let me carry him inside the doctor’s room. He hung onto me ever so tightly and cried…. All the doctor need to do is take a look at his skin… I wonder why he’d behaved like that? Was it because of some bad experience? He used to be so good when seeing doc.

Scenario 3:
At the playground, ZX’s always careful and slower than the other kids. 2 weekends ago, he was playing the slides happily, but just this last Sunday, he’d sit on top of the slide and dared not come down on his own unless I went up there and let him down. Sigh…

And so I wonder…

~ MamaBee is clueless … hoping this stage will pass too.

Kissy Kissy

ZX trying to kiss his cousin. See the pouty mouth.. heh heh! ;-P

2009 CNY

My little baby, now a 2 years old toddler. He's learning to talk pretty fast nowadays. What comes out, of course is a mix of Hokkien (mostly), Mandarin and English. The most popular word is of course "bu4 yao4" and "No!".

When we went back to our hometown for Chinese New Year, he had lots of fun playing indoor which was going up and down the stairs. Outdoor, he loved riding the spoiled tricycle, running around in the garden, raking leaves (erm... not really), watering the plants, swinging on the swing and playing with sands and rocks.

With all the cousins around, at least ZX has companies to play with (read some time for me to rest.. haha), I think he especially likes little M. It's really nice to see the both of them hug and kiss, just that when little M initiated to kiss him, he pushed her away. Have told him that it's not okay to push others, but he still did that a few times. Hmmm, have to keep teaching him.

Last night, while I was putting him to bed and was lying beside him, ZX started to pat my butt like we always pat him, then asked me to pat his diapered tush too. So sweet. :)

~ MamaBee needs to put some time to update this blog often.

Cuteness

Scene 1
Me: Ma ma ma
ZX: Pa pa pa
Me: Pa pa pa
ZX: Ma ma ma
......
sometimes ZX also mentions his beloved "bear bear bear" and "chou chou chou" (the smelly pillow)

Scene 2
Me: Mama yang yang (i.e. short for sayang)
ZX: Papa yang yang
Me: Zheng Xi yang yang
ZX: Xi yang yang

Other times
~ Whenever ZX thank us with "xie xie" or "tank q" or "xie xie tank q" without being asked.
~ When he pouts his mouth to kiss us
~ Imitating us: words, actions or just laughing with us even if he doesn't know what's going on.

~ Mamabee is satisfied

Crybaby

Nowadays, ZX will cry when he couldn't get his way or when we scolded him. Oh poor baby...

~ Mamabee just has to accept

Hair Cut Photos

Sulky Boy

Hair Cut

Brought ZX for a hair cut yesterday at the malay barber shop. Plopped him down on the chair with extra thick cushion, and he started to scrunch and cry "mama... papa...", that poor little boy is scared.

Luckily, I managed to distract him by giving him my Wall-E keychain to hold under the cover, and he stopped. I held onto his hand and stayed by him for a while. Amazingly, he sat quietly and let the malay guy to adjust his head about and cut. After a while, I walked away and he's fine by it too! ZX didn't even utter a sound, just sat there, sulked and observed what the uncle was doing to him. Hee, so very cute!

~ Mamabee is in need of a hair cut soon too...

Bear Bear

There's the beary talk:
ZX started talking to his toy bear and showing him stuff, like car, fan, ball... you name it. And while at this exercise, he wants you to take the bear and interact with him like the bear's talking. Cute, but sometimes it gets too long and tiring. :P

Then there's the drawing sessions of bear, rabbit and cat:
I drew him a bear on his magnetic board for the first time last week, so now ZX will request for it.
He'd happily say "bear bear" whenever I drew him one, and he'll take the pencil and tried drawing with some strokes. I discovered his strokes are much more controlled now without the fast & drawing all over the board.

Yesterday I tried drawing a rabbit and a cat, and to my surprise, he know which is which. He laughed and told me "bit"/"ra bit" or "meow".

~ Mamabee enjoys teaching her baby stuff

Mr. Instructor

Now the little boy instructs. Here are some scenarios.

1) Finger pointing to the place he wanted you to be, then said "zhuo4" (i.e. sit).
That's when he wanted you to:
~ Sit with him to watch BabyTV
~ Read for him
~ Lay down beside him while he's drinking milk. (Okay, this one with no voice command since his mouth is stuffed)
~ Sit down on the floor playing cars with him

2) He'll call "Lai2" or "Tam" (i.e. come) out to you or the cat to go to him.

3) And of course the usual "Bao4" (Carry!) for:
~ Every morning, carry him out to the kitchen to prepare his milk
~ Carry him to the window such that he can admire the "sampah chia" (dumpster truck) every morning, the cars and moon.

~ Mamabee is all warm and fuzzy

Chopped Liver

Felt like this every morning...

Nowadays, ZX wakes up and he'll call for his Papa straight away, even when I'm just sleeping beside him. He'll pick up his security beanie pillow and teddy, then off he went looking for his beloved Papa in the other room.

Sigh... can't help but feel sad.

Mamabee is is is........ chopped liver. :(

Bye Bye

Now that he knows how to say bye bye, he rarely give us flying kisses any more.

Story for tonight, heard him bid bye bye many times near the shoe rack, and I was thinking who he's bidding bye bye to. And guess what? He's actually looking at his shadow and waved & said "Bye bye! bye bye!....." both H & I were so tickled. Ha ha!

~ Mamabee loves her boys very much!

Bah, Bah, Black Sheep

It's ZX's first song which he will sing with me, even it's not the complete song.
And he'll be playing with his little toy sheep while at it. So cute ;-)

Mama sings:
Bah, Bah, Black sheep
Have you any wool
Yes sir, Yes sir, three bags full
One for my master
One for my dame
One for the little boy
Who lives down the lane.

ZX sings:
Bah, Bah, beh ...
.......... bool
.. sa.. sa...bak pool
One......... ter
One......... dam
One ......... bai
............... (actually the last line got lost :P)

~ Mamabee needs to watch what comes out of her mouth nowadays.

Whiney Crybaby

These days, ZX would:
1) Tests us when he knows the things he does are not allowed.
Last night, he stepped on the his toy phone and looked at us. Papa told him No a few times and then pointed at him and told him with a more authority "No!". Guess what he did? He started to cry and ran to the front door grill, looked out and still crying, hand banging on the door like he wants to let the whole world know what unjustice/unworldly stuff we've done to him... or may be calling out to his babysitter on the 17th floor?!?
The same thing happened for the second time a short while later, this time it's because we forbade him from stepping on the Lego box cover. :P
Hmmm... we were intrigued and amused at the same time.

2) Whine, even the fake whine to get our attention such that his needs are met.

3) Start to hold on to our hands while we bring him for walks. Very different from when he first started to walk... he'd just walked anywhere he liked and refused our hand holds.

~ Mamabee will think more after her lunch

How do you like my hair style?

The hairdo by Papa... :P

A-Tisket, A-Tasket

Ooh... my dream might come true because my baby was carrying the polar bear and danced around with it to Ella's song as it was blaring from the CD player last night. :D

I guess it all boils down to all the dancing we've been doing with ZX since he's about 6 or 7 months. He would squeal with laughter when we carry him bouncing round & round, shimmy and shake.

Nowadays, he will start bouncing, shake his upper body, moving his hands or dance around (literally round & round until he lost balance/dizzy and fell) whenever he hears music. Strangely, he doesn't react to classical music or soft music without the boom boom beat.

~ Mamabee is tapping her feet

One O'Clock Jump

Last week, I was showing ZX how to jump. And so he learns. Initially, he'd just lower himself and got up without lifting feet off the ground.

Now at least one of his feet will go slightly off the floor. And if you're sitting down, he'd come tapping on your knee, utter a sound while pointing to the floor asking you to jump with him.

Hop my little boy, Hop!

~ Mamabee is dreaming her boy will lindy when he grows up...

Vroom Vroom!

"Chia!" ZX will exclaim pointing to the car zooming along the road down below. Then he'd go "woo wooo" in the up & down sing-song voice which sounded like the vehicle engine and motion. Sometimes he would also say "tik tak tik tak" while doing the clenching his hand and open it up again, this was what my eldest sister taught him a month ago about the car signal.

I wonder if he's relating the sound to the car signal or to the car itself... hmmm.

~ MamaBee loves to hear "tik tak tik tak" :D

Revelation

I’m resisting writing about the unhappy times and not so glam stuff because I want to look good and also not be reminded by it in black and white… on the other hand, this is a place where I can rant and sometimes realize things when I do spill the beans.

These days, H and I are having difficult times with ZX. From our views, he’s becoming more stubborn, bad tempered and whiny. If things aren’t going his way, he’d whine then cry and throw his tantrums… doesn’t want you to go near to console him and keep on crying… Very often, our patience is really tried. At the point when we lose it (normally not at the same incident), I’d beat his bum or simply ignore him. H is worse, he’d scold very loudly and beat his buttocks hard. Well, what we did only provoke more of his crying. I know this but at that very moment, it can be hard to control our emotions. Ah what an excuse!!

As I look back and try to see things from ZX’s point of view, I can see that he wants to be independent and not be controlled. He’d convey his needs with his baby talk, pointing and body language which sometimes not easy to be interpreted by adults, that add to his frustrations.

So last night and this morning, I went along with him, holding back and just let him be until he’s ready. Guess what… it’s so much easier and without much whining, screams and struggles. He also slept better last night with no nightmares.

It’s really not easy being a parent, much more so being a first-time parent. Teaching and learning is going both ways here, between the parents and the child.

~ MamaBee is guilty as charged.

Flower Boy

He's wondering if I love him.
Oh YES I do! :-)

Mama!

After months of ZX calling me Papa and wondering when he's going to change... Yesterday 23 June 2008, ZX finally calls me mama!!

When H. brought him home, ZX ran to me while calling out to me “mama”! Once, and that’s all it took for me to feel all warm inside… I carried him up and showered him with kisses. Kind of a blissful moment! Heh heh!

Later that night, he kept repeating “mama mama mama”, and we caught that in video. ;-P

~ Oh Boy! MamaBee is as excited as a puppy!