Beanie, our little Helper

Beanie is now my little Helper... well, most of the time.

When she accidentally spills any water or milk, she will demand for a cleaning cloth and will clean up the mess. And most of the time, she actually does quite a good job in cleaning up.

She also enjoys dry-mopping the floor and she is rather meticulous, I must say. She also rearranges our shoes in the morning to ensure that our shoes are neatly arranged along the corridor.

At 18 months, I must say she is currently at HER CUTEST! Arggh, it is soooo cute to see her mopping around the house!

Beanie's 2nd Chinese New Year

Happy Chinese New Year ! 

Beanie at 5 months old in the last CNY

When I looked at Beanie's photos taken during the last Chinese New Year, I got a shock. I couldn't believe that she was so small and tiny then!

Thankfully Beanie has more hair now. But her eyes seem to have shrunk. Not as big as when she was a baby.

Beanie has had lots of fun this CNY, she is so much more interactive now, able to run around and play with other children. Her favourite CNY snack is Mini Papadam. Every morning, she will point to the Snack Corner and shout "more! more! more!" That is her indication of wanting to eat the mini papadam.

I will usually humor her by giving her 2 pieces and as usual, she will shout "more! more! more!" and I will have to say "No more biscuits" and hide the container.

Then she will then usually proceed to throw a tantrum and have a melt down, which by now, I am totally immune and will just ignore her.

This little skit happens EVERY MORNING.

Im deciding how to end this vicious cycle by:

1. Finish the papadam with Beanie once and for all. We will stuff our faces silly with mini papadam and share a special mother-&-daughter bonding session. I will worry about the sore throats later.

2. Finish the papadam myself since it is MY favorite snack too! And pray that Beanie will soon forget about the papadam.

3. Eat as much of the papadam myself and leave a few pieces for Beanie. Let Beanie have the illusion that she has finished the papadam.

The rational mother in me indicates that Option 3 is the best but I am so keen to do Option 1 instead!

Potty Training Part 1

So I have officially started potty training on Beanie about 2 weeks ago, when she was about 17 months. Actually I have tried to start potty training even earlier, at about 1 year old. I wanted her to sit on the potty, just so that she would be comfortable with the idea of sitting on a potty.

At 1 year old, I thought she she was too young to understand the concept of pooping and peeing into a potty, so my training was ad-hoc and haphazard. I wasn't consistent and after while, for some reason, Beanie started to resist the potty. She refused to sit on the potty and would scream bloody murder whenever I took out the potty.

Ok, fine. Since I thought she was too young to understand, I let her be and we took a break from potty training.

Then I read a few parenting books and most (if not all, except for the book featured in the picture above) indicated that toddlers "have to be ready mentally and biologically" before they can start potty training. The books advise that toddlers at age 18-24 months will be mentally and biologically developed enough to grasp the concept of potty training and if you were to start younger, you are only wasting your time and causing undue stress to the babies or toddlers.

I totally DISAGREE with that.

I noticed that Beanie has understood the concept of peeing and pooping into the potty when she was at about 12-14 months, but because she is so used to pooping in her diapers while in a standing position, she rejects the potty by choice.

So, if a baby has started potty training early and has gotten used to the idea of peeing and pooping into the potty from a really young age, the baby should be diaper-free (during the day time) by 20 months or so.

Instead, now I have to break Beanie's habit of pooping in her diaper although she is clearly aware of the existence of the potty but chooses NOT to use it.

I personally find the book: Diaper-Free Before 3 by Dr Jill M.Lekovic to be very useful and I'm using her tips to potty train Beanie now.

As of now, Beanie is willing to sit in her potty willingly although I do need to use my Iphone to entice her. It is the only time where she gets to play with my phone, so she associates sitting on a potty to "happy time with the iPhone". She has also peed in the potty a few times but still refusing to poop in the potty.

Meanwhile, Beanie is also back to wearing cloth diapers and training pants at home, so that she gets to feel the wetness of her pants whenever she wets herself and hopefully, that will prompt her to signal her desire to pee before she actually wets herself.

And to my visitors for the coming Chinese New Year, I will strongly advise you NOT to sit on my carpet since Beanie has peed there a few times already! ;)