I’m glad that I successfully trained Marcus to take potty whenever he wants pee or poo. It took me at least 3 months on training him, but it’s worth. He likes to put the potty on his head as one of his toy. I warn and keep on telling him that it’s dirty and mummy doesn’t want to see it anymore. But he gives me a smile and run away from me.

I think I need to get a toddler seat to train him on the toilet bowl. Anyway, I really happy to see his improvement these days other than potty train. I guess my maid is the most happiest as she no need to clean up the mess whenever Marcus pee on the floor anymore.

I can see many youngsters smoke and drink alcohol nowadays even though they are still in their school life. I will make sure that my kid would never involve in such activities or situation when he grows up. Thus, good parenting and education is very important for the children. It is our responsilities as parents to guide and lead them into healthy life.

I wonder how those parents feel when they know that their children involve in drug, alcohol or smoking addiction. I’m sure they must be very upset and can’t do nothing. Of course not, they can send their children to drug rehab centre to help them to turn into a new life.

I will make sure my family members to show good example to Marcus. Children learn fast through adults and I don’t want my kid to be the next victim who is involve in smoke and alcohol just like my cousin brother. Am I worry too much now ???

I have made my final decision that I will only enroll Marcus to kindergarten few months later. Many people around me said that it’s too young for him, so pity and bla..bla…bla…The principle of the kindergarten told me that actually only kids above 30 months are accepted to join, but she lets Marcus join in after seeing him that day.

I know many kids are send to nursery school at his age even below 1 year old. That’s because no one taking care of them while their parents have to go to work. Since I have my mother in law and a maid with me to take care of him, so just let him free from school for another few more months.

The school fees are quite expensive too, if I let Marcus to start next month, I need to pay RM283 monthly, where other fees like musikgarten, books, uniforms are not included. It is worth if he can learn something there. I got to know the increasing school fees for some other kindergatens too. Geee….daddy and mummy have to work hard to earn more for kid’s education. I always hope that he can grow faster so that I can send him for music class, drawing class and computer class too. *kiasumum* ???  May be, but I just want my kid to be well developed and educated. LOL!!!

I started Marcus potty train in day time weeks ago. But it seems that no improvement for him. I let him on diaperless and wear short pants at home in the day time, but he likes to pee on the floor even though the potty is in front of or near him. He is just lazy to go and take the potty. Geee…he really makes me angry sometimes. Luckily I have a maid to help me clean up the mess each time.

I know it is not easy to go through this stage, I guess it’s a hard time for everyone goes through the battle of teaching their child to potty train too. I did asked some of my friends for tips or a better way to potty train, but looks like they are also in the same situation like me.

May be I should ask other mummies in this blogging world for help through mom chat. I want to see if anyones would like to share their grief and swap tips on the best way to potty train my kid. 

I enjoy reading books to Marcus before he goes to bed every night. But he will sure take all his books to me whenever he comes to my bedroom. Sometimes I just very busy to do other things but he keeps chasing me to read the books. After I have finish to read all the books, he wants me to repeat again.

It is a good habit to start reading at young age. I prefer reading books to him than playing toys with him. In the day time, I will ask him to stand beside me and I read it to him while my eyes starring to my laptop. Hahaha….Once he knows it, he will start yell and look at me. :-) 

16) Break some rules sometimes - For example have ice cream during raining day or dinner. It’s excited and fun for children even parents too.

17) Plan meals together - Let your kids help choose dishes to make and take part in the preparation if they know things well. They will be more likely to eat what’s served.

18) Dont help too much homework  - It is easy to say as I know many parents from my centre that always helping their kids to do homework, if not they will end up sleep at midnight. Of coz nowadays school give many homework especially those well known school.

19) Let your toddle explore - Parents often dont want their children to bang big pots or do other things that messy the house, but that’s the way kids learn. My hubby is the one who always want his son clean and avoid him to mess the house. That’s why he’s a slow learner.

20) Don’t be over protective - You should try to shield your child from all dissapointments, failures situations. Kids need to learn to handle this in order to cope with their daily life in future.

11) Coin a nickname - call your child with special nickname that reflects your unique connection to him. I call my son as “boy-boy” most of the time. He has other calling name like Marcus, Lit Ean, Mr Teng. My father likes to call him as “bird-bird” and I don’t understand what is mean Well, a child with many names is a child loved many times.

12)  Read all food lables - always know that your child is eating, especially if he/she has food allergies. I’m glad that my son doesn’t has any food allergies.

13) Don’t rush to punish - Every child needs love, attention and respect. If your child is acting up, give him a big hug, listen to him and spend time with him. He will more cooperative. And both of you may feel closer to each other. But my hubby likes to scold Marcus if he is naughty. This is what I don’t like.

14) Be silly sometimes - do something silly things in front of kids like dance, laugh until cry, belch. They may also follow you. It is nice to see them act.

15) Don’t lie -Never lie in front of your kids. For example, don’t tell the caller that hubby not at home when he is sitting in the living room watching TV.

6) Think ahead about safety - When your kids know how to stand, is the time to put up the gate, cover the shape corners of tables and keep pot handles turned away from the edge of the stove.

7) Never take a bath break - Never ever answer the phone when you taking bath with your baby. I always tell my mother and mother in law if they take bath for my son. Baby can can drown just a second if left unattended. So, must be very careful.

8 ) Make photo albums - This is what I like to do. Marcus has about 5 photo albums since he was born. Take 2 hours a month to create lasting, organized family memories. As you gather photos or souvenirs, you will have time to reflect on the preciousness of your life.

9) Teach simple songs and nursery rhymes - Rhyming and singing is fun and tunes your kids in to the specific skills that are needed for reading. I will sing some simple songs and nursery rhymes before Marcus goes to sleep.

10) Choose child care carefully - Spend as much time researching what you will buy. Ask others who have bought the stuffs and give some opinion or advise.

Well, I just want to list down what I did to my son most of the day. If you think I’m right, no harm to follow it

1) Say “I love you” - Every parents may show how much love to their children through actions, but kids need and want to be told that they’re loved.

2) Wishing - Say Good Morning and Good Night every day. They know it and one day they may say it back to you too.

3) Sleep when your baby sleeps - I will take a nap when my son sleep in the afternoon if I’m not go to work. I will have more energy to take care and play with him later. Healthy parents, healthy children.

4) Double check car seat - Whenever I put my son in the carseat, I will check if it installed properly and tigh the seat bell.

5) Be romantic - kiss with your partner in front of your kids and say “I love you”….aiya, this is what I want to do but always forget it

Hubby and I always hope that Marcus can sit on the high chair each time we go out for dinner especially wedding dinner. Well, children cannot sit there and do nothing for long. They like to do something to make you angry.  

When we go out for dinner, I will bring along his favourite food, raisins or honey stars for him to pick and eat. But most of the time I will let him to eat rice if he doesn’t cry or yell. He can sit there throughout the dinner, but if we join the dinner with other relatives or friends, he will cry and not going to sit on the high chair. He needs to “warm up” first before he can manage to be sitted.  

If he grows up a bit, may be I will bring along color books and pencils for him to color or draw. This is just my plan and don’t know whether can work it or not.  I dare not to let him run around during dinner time, it will spend more effort to chase him around.

I’m Chinese educated. I know how to speak and write but not very well. I’m very weak in pinyin, so it’s quite hard for me if you ask me to blog in Chinese. But I like singing Chinese songs especially those Chinese pop songs from famous singers. 

If you like to sing Chinese songs but don’t know well in Chinese, you can look for the pinyin of it from FitFit. It is a site with some Chinese pinyin lyrics and some of them are still hot. One of my favorite songs is Mr Q from Jolin. I like to sing this song and remember the pinyin when I can’t read some of the words from it.

If you read my blog recently, then you know that my boy fell from his play pan last week. Since he is almost 20 months old, I’m thinking to let him sleep on mattress. I tried it before, but this lil boy played and jumped here and there when come to sleep. I’m not sure how long he played on the mattress as I slept like a pig that night Since then, I let him sleep back on his play pan till now.

Nowadays, he got hurt a lot. Even though every kid has to go through this, but as a mummy, we sure very sad to see them hurt each time they learn something new like crawling, walking, running, jumping and etc. Marcus likes to crawl stairs lately, sometimes he just crawls up quielty and we don’t even reliase it.

 

Thus, as a precaution, hubby and I bought a safety baby gate from BeBeShop last week.

Now, he can’t crawl up the stairs, unless we open the gate for him. LOL!!!

Hubby and I went to buy a divider to block the stairs in my house in BeBe Shop yesterday.  I can’t get it as it’s out of stocks We really need it as he likes to climb up and down the stairs lately. He is so active and energetic but we getting tired each time he climbs the stairs. We need to look at him every second, if not he will climb up by himself. It’s really a good exercise for him and us

Every time I go to this BeBe Shop, I’m sure will get something back home for Marcus. I bought this safety tools yesterday. It’s really useful, he hardly open the cabinets and grab all things out. Besides that, the furniture corner cushions protect toddlers from sharp edged tables, chairs and low shelves. 

 

Left : Cabinet slide lock
Right : Furniture corner cushions

I would like to share my ideas or tips about the ways to make baby smarter. I gathered all these information from books, and magazines. I did all these ideas with my son too. So, you can try it if you think it is work. Do drop me a comment what you think.

Make eye contact. It is very important that we have eyes contach with our baby especially when your newborn’s eyes are open, and look right into them. Infants recognize faces early on and we, parents is the most important! Each time he stares at you, he’s actually building his memory.

Breast-feed. Yeah, I did breast fed my son for about 6 months. It’s a fact that school kids who were breast-fed as infants have higher IQs. Plus, nursing is a great time to bond with your infant by singing or talking.

Sing a song. I do this every time when Marcus goes to sleep in Mandarin and English version. Learn as many tunes as you can, or make up your own verses (”This is the way I change your diaper, change your diaper, change your diaper . . . “). Some research suggests that learning the rhythms of music is linked to learning math.

Go shopping. Haha…this is what I like to do. When you need a break from your song and dance, visit the supermarket. The faces, sounds, and colors there provide perfect baby entertainment.

Read books. Again and again! Scientists have found that babies as young as 8 months can learn to recognize the sequence of words in a story when it’s read 2 or 3 times in a row, this is believed to help them learn language. I teach Marcus read chinese story books, and flash cards in English, he likes it much. He knows about 20 english words now….

Pneumococcal diease is an infection caused by the bacterium called Streptococcus pneumoniae, also known as pneumococcus. It occurs most commonly in children, particularly those under 2 years of age. This is what I worried about lately. Actually I knew about this vaccination early this year from my son’s paed. Since he needs injection almost every month, I then put this case aside till yesterday.

I met one of my yoga friend, who is a medical representative in ISH yesterday, She told me that it’s very important for children to have this injection. I asked doctor about this vaccination in detail as I thought to give Marcus for this vaccination soon. He needs to take 2 doses and each dose costs RM300. 

This disease can be very serious, it may cause permanent hearing loss, brain damage and death. So, if your children haven’t take this injection, do ask your doctor about this pneumococcal vaccination today.

This is NOT a sponsored post.

Dear, please take my camera back home and help me to snap some nice photos……

Aiyo, I miss my son very much and I need my hubby to take some nice photos for me. So that I can have a look and post it in my blog. I think I will receive this “gift” by tomorrow, hopefully my hubby is free and pass it to me as soon as possible.

Talking about photos now and remind me that I still have many photos yet to be developed. I have 3 large photo albums, all about Marcus. It’s really a good memories to snap and keep all those photos.  I’m thinking to bring him to photo studio to snap some creative and cute photos, but wait until he can walk first

My son gave me another shock again when my mother told me that he’s fought towards his grandmother, my MIL two days ago……huh??? You should wonder why this little boy so fierce nowadays.

I knew that my son suddenly turns to be pampered and plays tantrums a lot lately. He used to show his temper by holding his hands tigh and slap his head when he gets angry. My friend told me that it’s normal to let him express his feeling. Haha, is it normal ????

My boy knows that his grandmother “sayang” him a lot, so if he can’t get anything he wants, he will cry, yell and scream. Then, my MIL will fulfil him. But he fought his grandmother because he didn’t get what he wants. Ohhh, if I were there, I’m sure will scold him lah. How come he acts like that? I know he doesn’t scare of me, my PIL or my parents. He knows that we’re “sayang” him a lot. But he scares his father….. this is what I’m feel better, at least he scares his father, if not, sure I get old more faster.
 

I was set off to Nilai with hubby and my parents this morning. My MIL not follow us as she needs to take care of Marcus. Somemore kid not allow to be in the hospital. My MIL told me not to worry and think too much, she will take care Marcus. When I hear my son’s name, my tears started liao…oh, shamed shamed lah. Actually it’s a small matter, but when I think back that I can’t see my son for almost 2 weeks, then my heart so sad and miss him a lot till now. You won’t know the feeling unless you are a mother !!!

Then, my parents said that they want to call their grandson on the way to Nilai, again, my tears almost out, but I’ve controlled myself. My MIL called me and she let him to talk to me. Ok, he still don’t know how to talk, but he knows how to hold the phone and know that there’s people talking to him. I can hear his smiling voice…. so sweet and cute, my tears dropped again…for a while… I must control myself lah, so shame of it if others see me…

I’m a tuition teacher and I can see many children with bad handwriting nowadays. Even they have their right answers but I will mark them wrong due to their bad handwriting.

I have complaint and explained many times, but they still doing the same thing. I came across ESL Writing Wizard and found out that actually we can improve children handwriting worksheets. They provide print and cursive handwriting
and you can trace words, lists, sentences or paragraphs.

The best thing is no registration required and free of use. I hope that my son doesn’t have bad handwriting when he starts school, if not I think ESL Writing is the best tool for me.

My dear childhood asked me a question whether I have tasted my breast milk before. This is a good question and no one asks me before. I thought to post this title last two weeks, but I have forgotten until I prepared milk for my son last night.

Frankly, I found no one drink their own breast milk except my childhood, not even me. I only tasted few drops of it and I really felt disgusted. Why I have such a feeling though it’s my own breast milk, right? Even my hubby felt weird when I asked him to taste a little bit.

I have breastfed Marcus for almost 6 months, not exclusive coz not enough for him. I still add on formula milk for him. Let’s me tell you for those who didn’t tasted their own breast milk. It’s a little bit of sweetness but ants definitely will come on it if you put it on the table or else where.

I have a friend who is breastfeeding fanatic, she has many milk and her baby can”t finish it all. She made it in ice-cream and let her newphew and niece to eat breast milk ice cream.

So, any mummy who tasted her own breast milk, please leave your comment here as my friend very curious to know more about it!!! She has asked me few times about this question…..

Marcus doesn’t like formula milk anymore, but I still give him at least 6OZs every day. The problem is he doesn’t want milk bottle anymore, even for midnight milk. Ok, it’s great that he didn’t wake up at night for milk, if not, I need to spoon feed him.

He wants to drink milk after putting some Milo. This little clever boy doesn’t want to drink if he see that the milk is in whilte colour. If it is water, more worst, he will run away from me. My MIL told me that children must drink milk for their daily nutrition. It is quite hard for this boy to finish his milk each time.

What he likes to eat if he doesn’t want milk???? He likes to eat bread with raisin, my MIL and I do not know, and we bought this bread for him to eat every morning last month. He’s now “addicted” to it!!! Do not eat plain bread even this is his favourite food before…..Oh, I shouldn’t buy such bread for him!!! The raisin bread is sweet, so he likes to pick up all the raisin to eat….my MIL now warned me not to buy raisin bread at this moment!!!

He’s so clever, I”m sure all children are same, no taste, don’t want!!! He likes outside food, and I always restrict on it, not healthy….I always bring along food like bread, cereal or biscuits for him when we go out each time.

My cousin who is 21 years old this year gave birth to a baby girl last week. She’s get married so early than she expected because she was pregnant. May be she is too young and doesn’t have much knowledge taking care baby, butI’m sure her mother in law (MIL) got lots of experience.

Her daughter admitted to hospital yesterday due to her skin burned. My mother told me that her MIL put the baby girl under the sun for more than 30 minutes since the baby back homw. Her MIL saw that the baby having little bit of jaundice, so it is best to put her under the sun naked and without covered her eyes.

Oh, poor little baby girl, even I still haven’t see her but I felt sad to hear that. My brother told me that her baby girl is a fair and cute baby. But now, she more looks like “burning pig baby”. The baby skin’s damn damaged…..how come her MIL let the baby put under the sun for so long and without covering her eyes. Luckily she is not put the baby under the sun in the afternoon. The baby is just only few days old….Hopefully the baby is fine after admitted to hospital…

All parents are concerned over their kids’ education and would search the best programs to excite, motivate and stimulate them when they grow up. With most things going online these days, adult education is no exception.

At Capella University, is an online university that offers graduate degree programs in business, information technology, education, human services, and psychology, and bachelor’s degree programs in business and information technology. For those parents who really cannot afford their children to further studies in overseas, their children can sign up for the online degree course while working to earn money. For more information, you can visit to the site shown above. Don’t hesitate for an equires if you have any doubt.

I saw an interesting post from Ah Pek’s blog just now. Are mothers more important than fathers? I’m quite interesting about the title, and that’s why I want to post it in my kid’s blog. How do you think? As for me, both also very important to our children. Without one of them, I’m sure children may not be happy and the family seemed like missing someone.

Do you feel that children are more attached to their mothers instead of fathers? I do agree as I’m more attached to my mother. Marcus also very attached to me nowadays if compare to hubby. May be because I have more time with him as hubby needs to go work and back home late.

Some of you may think mothers more important as they gave birth to babies, and need to take care of them every day and night. But fathers always work hard as to earn more money for the family. So, what I’m trying to say is both also very important and I appreciate to what they did. I also hope that my son will also appreciate with what hubby and I did to him when he grows……

I will feed Marcus milk and bread every morning before I go for breakfast with my parents. My mother helped me to feed Marcus as I’m busy this morning. Even though he has his breakfast, but he still want it when we having breakfast.

I doesn’t like Marcus to eat outside food, not healthy. Normally I will bring a piece of bread for him and put it in a tupperwave. Same like this morning when I go out for breakfast with my parents.

My mother fed him bread while I having my breakfast. Suddenly, my mother shocked and showed me a staple’s bullet to me. She told me that she found the bullet on the bread. My father and I also shocked to see that. Luckily Marcus didn’t take and eat it, or else….big problem…

We all surprised as my parents’ house don’t have any staple or bullet. How come it will appear on the bread….then, you know why lah. I don’t want to tell the brand name of the bread, you should know the brand coz most of the people having it every day if compare to other brand.

We as parents really need to be more careful when we feed our children. Even just a small thing will cause bad to them.

Nowadys many parents worried about their teen’s growing pains, habits, pressure. Most of the time parents will taking about this issue when they meet each other. It is more difficult to control them about the spending habits of teens especially if they are given access to their own savings. It is very important for parents to teach them how to manage or spend their money when they are young.  Thus, it is a good idea of a prepaid teen card by Payjr. This card enables parents to transfer money to their children, track their spending habits and teach them financial management.

Parents can reward their children for good grades, completed chores or special occasions by making a direct transfer to the Visa Buxx card electronically and their children will be informed via sms or email. Besides,  parents can be informed of children’s spending activities that way. Last, the card provides independence to the teens, so they know that they are watched by their parents when they spend.

      

Normally I will place Marcus sit on car seat whenever we go out. It is safe to place kids on the car seat rather than carry or cuddle him. I totally agreed to place kids on the car seat. Some older people may think it is waste money to buy a car seat or it is easier to carry kids rather than put him in the car seat.

I didn’t let Marcus to sit in his car seat these few days as we’re staying in my parents’ house, and my father fetch us when we go out. We went to market to have breakfast and bought some fresh vegetables and fish this morning, but my parents insisted to let Marcus to sit in front with them. They said it’s nothing and only for short distance.

I was so worried and ngam ngam cham cham on the way back. Luckily we didn’t caught by police.

Marcus is growing up day by day and his car seat can’t fit him anymore even though it’s stated to be used until 3 years old. It depends on the weight and height of a kid. I totally agree that kids should sit on a car seat whenever they travel in a car. It’s more safety to the kid, and we parents need not have to carry him all the way especially when we go for travel.

Hubby needs to buy him a new car seat week ago, but he really busy with his work and postponed until today. As today is a holiday and I no need to go back to my centre, somemore hubby came back early after work. We decided to go to BeBe shop and bought Marcus a new car seat.

Actually hubby has kept an eyes on the brand called “Halford”, it costs RM499. I didn’t like it coz it looked like a giant and not much space after put it in a car. Finally I chose another car seat whereby it looked nicer and Marcus felt more comfortable to sit on it compare to the giant car seat. May be it’s too high and cover with thick cushion.

Some of my relatives and friends told me that no need to buy car seat, carry him or just let him sit on the car cushion. Wasting money to buy car seat as they think that kids won’t sit long on it. I don’t think so because if we train him to sit on car seat each time we go out, I’m sure you won’t waste your money. Besides that,  this is another way to train him to be more independent.

When Marcus was a newborn, I had to wake up and nurse whenever he’s cried. Besides that, I need to pump out my milk during midnight for every 3 hours. By the time I had finished pumped out my milk, Marcus was woke up for milk. And he fell asleep after fed.

Marcus won”t sleep thru the night even though he’s 14 months old now. He still wakes up a few times at night with comforting, given him a pacifier or even a night feed, and he will fall back to sleep. I’m still yet to have a night that I can sleep thru till morning, but I find that I have longer sleeping hours if compare when Marcus was few months old.

Not only that I need to comfort him during midnight, it’s also for each sleeping time. I have to sing a song and patting him for about 20 minutes each night before he falls asleep. Different baby will have different ways of dealing with sleeping.

I did heard from others that they will try everything to make their babies sleep thru the night like only feed water but no milk during night time, after few weeks they will not wake up for milk anymore during night time. Besides that, they will let the baby cry but not carry him until he’s tired and fall back to sleep again. Actually they want to try the baby that crying also no use as nobody will carry or nurse him. So, he might go back to sleep by himself and no crying after few times.

I didn’t follow any of those. I will give my son milk if he needs it and I will carry or nurse him if he cry. Not only I will do it but my hubby too. We both can’t stand for crying sound and feel pity to see Marcus crying but no one comfort him.  

All mummies have moments about their doubt. They wonder if they’re doing the right thing or way for their children. Or they’re try their best to do better for their children. I also have moments of self doubt when after having Marcus. So, if you know that you’re not confidence with yourself to be a mummy, just look through the ways below :

1) Don’t compare - It’s hard to avoid comparing, every mummy will compare their children to others. In my opinion, I get to know more about different children’s behaviour and growth from my friends, but I just use it as reference. It doesn’t mean that I need to follow everything, it will make me nervous and worry.

2) Don’t be pressured to take advice - As a mother, I’m sure we will receive a lot of advice from parents, relatives or friends. Your mum will tell you that your baby crying because he or she needs you to carry him or her, not milk and bla bla bla. Or your relatives and friends tell you that give your baby pacifier or put him or her in a swing to ease you. Whoever the advice comes from, dont care about it if you feel right to you.

3) Trust Your Feeling - follow your own feeling whether you are bringing up your kids the right way. Try not to listen too much advice or opinions from others, because you know your children well than others, right?

4) Free Time For Yourself - Many mothers often busy with their children and families that they forget to take care of themselves. When you are too tired or exhausted, your child is not going get the best from you. So, find your ME time to recharge and enjoy what you like to do, like shopping, cooking, blogging…

5) Basic Knowledge - It’s useful to have basic knowledge such as on baby care and the behaviour of children in different age. Read more from magazines or books from time to time.  But these all just an advice or guide, remember follow your own sense as a mother always.

6) Take things easy - Stop complain to yourself for not managing everything well as before like cleaning up your house, cooking. For example, take it easy when you see your children dirty their clothes or face or even hands and legs, and he’’s not having a clean, shiny face all the time and you get angry with them. This is not showed that you’re not a good mummy if ur children with dirty face sometimes.  

7) Forgive yourself - I know some of my friends feel guity after scolding or screamed at their child or even with unkind words. Feel bad and apologise, but dont ever think that you’re the worst mother in the world, forgive yourself and leave it behind. Everyone does have their temper, try not to do it again, control your mood. Try again tomorrow if you can do it today.

8 ) Enjoy with your children - we cannot just think of bring up children is one of your job. We need to enjoy them every moment with our children. Enjoy every achievements instead of worrying over what he cant do yet. Be happy and laugh together. When your child make you in trouble, just think of the happiest moment that together with your child. 

I think it’s that all for me, any other points that I left out, please leave yourcomment and let me know