As part of the challenges that come with the terrible twos, Gabe has begun to get really possessive of what belongs to him. The items can range from his own toys to stuff that he is holding in his hands at that point in time. His angst is especially towards children around his age and to the dismay of the parents, he gets aggressive enough to shove the kids on top of shouting "no!" in instruction.
On our part, we have been trying to be consistent in teaching him that he should not push other children, or anyone for that matter and to share. We have also been very liberal in smacking his hand in response to his disobedience. It is the perseverance in consistency that is most tiring on us. Sometimes I wonder if this whole process if for the disciplining of the child or of the parent.
Anyway, we were surprised when he reacted the same way to others coming near to rourou's bouncer. He will also protest when adults whom he is not familiar with or close to, carry his sister. He'll verbalize "don't want so-and-so carry meimei". I wonder where he got the idea that meimei belongs to him since we never really drilled that part in. But well, the beginnings of protectiveness of his little sister is something we are happy to see in the midst of struggling with the problem of his territoriality.
Friday, February 27, 2009
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Monday, February 23, 2009
Brotherly Love
Right from the beginning, our prayer was for Gabe to embrace his little sister and be gentle with her. We've also done our share of drilling - from how mummy's going to be away in hospital for the doctor to help to take meimei out from mummy's stomach, to how mummy needs to carry meimei pretty often to feed her milk. God has answered this prayer and thus far, he has been a very cooperative little boy. I know dynamics may change as the two of them grow, and we'll just keep praying for the big brother to love his little sister and take care of her, as the younger one learns to love and respect her gor gor.
Gabe was so excited to carry meimei in the hospital.
The usual cheeky face.
Let me take a closer look at meimei.
He was supposed to stretch out his hands under her, but it happened otherwise.
"Mummy let you sayang meimei!!" is the daily cry from Gabe. And he's really gentle with her ; )
Looks like we're beginning to collect pictures like this one.
Another one of those times where Gabe asks to sayang meimei.
Now papa's got his hands full.
Gabe was so excited to carry meimei in the hospital.
The usual cheeky face.
Let me take a closer look at meimei.
He was supposed to stretch out his hands under her, but it happened otherwise.
"Mummy let you sayang meimei!!" is the daily cry from Gabe. And he's really gentle with her ; )
Looks like we're beginning to collect pictures like this one.
Another one of those times where Gabe asks to sayang meimei.
Now papa's got his hands full.Thursday, February 19, 2009
A Happy 2nd Birthday
Gabe is two years old!
His birthday happened to be right smack in the middle of my confinement period so we made do with a small celebration at home, with both sets of grandparents and aunties over for dinner. My confinement auntie volunteered to cook and whoa... did she cook up a storm. Can you believe it? We forgot to take pictures of the spread -- beehoon, curry vegetables, fried chicken, fried ngo hiang (made from scratch), and some soup just for Gabe.
The long-awaited cake cutting took place after dinner and you can see the glee on the boy's face.
I'm two and happy!!
Oh... that's meimei behind me.
Soooo happy when everyone was singing the birthday songs (both languages).
Serving cake to all the elders.
With waigong, waipo and yee yee.
With yeye, ah ma and gugu. Ah pek was at work.
Time to open presents! Rip rip rip. Gabe got so excited over this gift, which was from waipo's colleagues.
Not bad hor, so distant also give presents, and a very apt one samore. Cement mixer!
This, in yee's words, is the "bestest birthday present ever" and it's a vrooom vroooom Ferrari car!!!
Thank you Mark and yee!!
His birthday happened to be right smack in the middle of my confinement period so we made do with a small celebration at home, with both sets of grandparents and aunties over for dinner. My confinement auntie volunteered to cook and whoa... did she cook up a storm. Can you believe it? We forgot to take pictures of the spread -- beehoon, curry vegetables, fried chicken, fried ngo hiang (made from scratch), and some soup just for Gabe.
The long-awaited cake cutting took place after dinner and you can see the glee on the boy's face.
I'm two and happy!!
Oh... that's meimei behind me.
Soooo happy when everyone was singing the birthday songs (both languages).
Serving cake to all the elders.
With waigong, waipo and yee yee.
With yeye, ah ma and gugu. Ah pek was at work.
Time to open presents! Rip rip rip. Gabe got so excited over this gift, which was from waipo's colleagues. Not bad hor, so distant also give presents, and a very apt one samore. Cement mixer!
This, in yee's words, is the "bestest birthday present ever" and it's a vrooom vroooom Ferrari car!!! Thank you Mark and yee!!
Saturday, January 31, 2009
The Second Arrival
Dear everyone, meet my little daughter, number two to the Boonite household, ιζΊζ Gayle.
Rou was born on 28 January 2009 at 3.41pm, weighing in at 2.96kg. She came out demonstrating how strong her lungs were with good bouts of cries and the first thing the nurses noticed was the two little lobes of flesh on her right ear.
More about her on her very own blog, when the mother has more time. Yes, I have caved. Visit www.rourou-tzg.blogspot.com for updates! Meanwhile, here are some pictures taken while we were still in the hospital.
Fresh out of the womb, cleaned, bathed, dressed and happily relaxing on the warmer.
Heh heh... she's still got mummy's eyes, just like gor gor.
Rou was born on 28 January 2009 at 3.41pm, weighing in at 2.96kg. She came out demonstrating how strong her lungs were with good bouts of cries and the first thing the nurses noticed was the two little lobes of flesh on her right ear.
More about her on her very own blog, when the mother has more time. Yes, I have caved. Visit www.rourou-tzg.blogspot.com for updates! Meanwhile, here are some pictures taken while we were still in the hospital.
Fresh out of the womb, cleaned, bathed, dressed and happily relaxing on the warmer.
Heh heh... she's still got mummy's eyes, just like gor gor.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Christmas 2008
I have only just realised that I didn't blog about the last Christmas, so it's coming at the same time as the update for CNY.
This year's celebration was held at Gabe's sum sok gong's home, where we found an overwhelming amount of food, noisy company with lots of laughs and a mountain of presents under the Christmas tree. It'll suffice to say the adults were all stuffed with food and the kids with fun and presents.
Gabe and auntie Nikki at the sidelines of the water fight out on the balcony.
Fuel up before the real fun begins. I love the mini santarina hat!
As always, getting all four kids together for a picture tops the list of challenges.
And it's finally time to distribute the presents. Gabe's patience finally paid off when he was called to collect his first gift. See the glee on his face!
Waiting for his turn again. Last year, the wide-eyed babe sat through the distribution with nary an idea of what went on. This year, with the ability to participate, he was thoroughly enjoying the process.
Entertaining everyone with displays of purposeful ha-ha-s.
The loot. Gabe very obediently helped mummy to stack all the presents up until it was time to open them.
Carefully tearing up the wrapper...
Another conscientious effort...
And another...
And another...
Present of the year: the remote control Taxi! Incidentally, waigong bought him the yellow one and uncle ET got him the blue one ie HE HAS TWO of them!
Ending off the day with the bubble gun, which each kid got in a different color.
This year's celebration was held at Gabe's sum sok gong's home, where we found an overwhelming amount of food, noisy company with lots of laughs and a mountain of presents under the Christmas tree. It'll suffice to say the adults were all stuffed with food and the kids with fun and presents.
Gabe and auntie Nikki at the sidelines of the water fight out on the balcony.
Fuel up before the real fun begins. I love the mini santarina hat!
As always, getting all four kids together for a picture tops the list of challenges.
And it's finally time to distribute the presents. Gabe's patience finally paid off when he was called to collect his first gift. See the glee on his face!
Waiting for his turn again. Last year, the wide-eyed babe sat through the distribution with nary an idea of what went on. This year, with the ability to participate, he was thoroughly enjoying the process.
Entertaining everyone with displays of purposeful ha-ha-s.
The loot. Gabe very obediently helped mummy to stack all the presents up until it was time to open them.
Carefully tearing up the wrapper...
Another conscientious effort...
And another...
And another...
Present of the year: the remote control Taxi! Incidentally, waigong bought him the yellow one and uncle ET got him the blue one ie HE HAS TWO of them!
Ending off the day with the bubble gun, which each kid got in a different color.Those Two Fingers
Gabe's obsession with his two fingers have been both a convenience and a headache. We didn't offer the pacifier past his first month and somehow, the little one managed to find comfort in stuffing his fingers into his mouth as early as the second month. The choice ones are the fore and middle fingers on his left hand, as opposed to the common thumb. So anytime and anywhere he requires some comfort, he'll DIY, and we won't need to lug out extra logistics (pacifier) and ensure they are clean and sterilized (especially if they drop on the floor). This is especially convenient if there's only one adult in the car and he/ she is driving and won't be able to attend to his needs.
But, this habit has its down sides. Major down sides. Although it came to a point where he'd only suck them when tired/ sleepy/ sleeping or when he's in the pram/ car seat, it was a tough habit to kick. Most literature would encourage parents to wean the kid out of the habit by age two, and if it has to go past that age, to limit it to the bedroom ie when the kid requires some comfort to fall asleep. So for us, the fingers-sucking habit when Gabe is lounging comfortably in his car seat will have to be first to go.
So began our strategizing. Again. Sigh... being a parent requires putting so much brain cells to work at such schemes. We decided and communicated to the boy that if he sucks his fingers during the car ride, he will not be allowed to "drive car when papa parks the car at the multi-storey car park at mummy and papa's house". It took a few days before the concept sank in but it eventually did. There were times when you'll notice him fighting a mental battle, where his hands will be wide opened and hanging around his mouth and cheeks. Other times you'll hear him giving you the instructions that "sek sao ji [sucking fingers] cannot drive car" as a reminder to himself. Then there were occasions he'd be so tired out while we're getting home that he gave in to his drowsiness, sucked his fingers, fell asleep and woke up nevertheless to the consequence of no time at the wheel. But we're glad to see significant improvement and we've reached a point where we're almost at 100% success, at the expense of his verbal diarrohea. I'll leave details on this for another post.
Apparently, my in laws have been very successful at getting him to sleep without sucking those two fingers, citing the popping up of the "bubbles" [the callouses that pop up as a result of the habit]. Somehow I've not managed to convince him to do the same. But there are occasions where I instruct him specifically not to and he'd cry in utter despair "mummy let you sek sao ji!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" The interesting thing is that on these occasions, he'd obey but due to extreme grouchiness, cry uncontrollably until I have no choice but to allow him to do so. Then he'll settle back down to sleep peacefully. Looks like a long way to go on the bed part of this habit, but we do hope to break it soon.
A look back at the journey of Gabe and his two fingers:
Trying out the various fingers before he turned two months old.
6 months
8 months
12 months
16 months
But, this habit has its down sides. Major down sides. Although it came to a point where he'd only suck them when tired/ sleepy/ sleeping or when he's in the pram/ car seat, it was a tough habit to kick. Most literature would encourage parents to wean the kid out of the habit by age two, and if it has to go past that age, to limit it to the bedroom ie when the kid requires some comfort to fall asleep. So for us, the fingers-sucking habit when Gabe is lounging comfortably in his car seat will have to be first to go.
So began our strategizing. Again. Sigh... being a parent requires putting so much brain cells to work at such schemes. We decided and communicated to the boy that if he sucks his fingers during the car ride, he will not be allowed to "drive car when papa parks the car at the multi-storey car park at mummy and papa's house". It took a few days before the concept sank in but it eventually did. There were times when you'll notice him fighting a mental battle, where his hands will be wide opened and hanging around his mouth and cheeks. Other times you'll hear him giving you the instructions that "sek sao ji [sucking fingers] cannot drive car" as a reminder to himself. Then there were occasions he'd be so tired out while we're getting home that he gave in to his drowsiness, sucked his fingers, fell asleep and woke up nevertheless to the consequence of no time at the wheel. But we're glad to see significant improvement and we've reached a point where we're almost at 100% success, at the expense of his verbal diarrohea. I'll leave details on this for another post.
Apparently, my in laws have been very successful at getting him to sleep without sucking those two fingers, citing the popping up of the "bubbles" [the callouses that pop up as a result of the habit]. Somehow I've not managed to convince him to do the same. But there are occasions where I instruct him specifically not to and he'd cry in utter despair "mummy let you sek sao ji!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" The interesting thing is that on these occasions, he'd obey but due to extreme grouchiness, cry uncontrollably until I have no choice but to allow him to do so. Then he'll settle back down to sleep peacefully. Looks like a long way to go on the bed part of this habit, but we do hope to break it soon.
A look back at the journey of Gabe and his two fingers:
Trying out the various fingers before he turned two months old.
6 months
8 months
12 months
16 months
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