Copy-cat

My 3-year-old toddler is an extreme copy-cat! Spent Thanksgiving at some relatives' place, and my son got to play with two of his cousins. They were about 3 years, and 5 years older than him. He followed them around the whole time! The older cousin was a girl, and loved to dress my son up in dress-up clothes. My son was agreeable to whatever his older cousins wanted to do. The younger cousin was a boy, and wanted to be out in the backyard all the time. My son was happy to do that too! However, at some point, the cousins got tired of him constantly following them around, and would hide from him. I felt sorry for my son, but at the same time, was worried about him being such a huge "follower", and copy-cat! I wondered to myself if he would not develop his own identity. I was told by some friends though, that it was a typical 3-year-old thing! Oh well! Guess we shall see!

High Fever Woes

My little 3-year-old has been running high fevers on and off, since he turned 3. I'm worried about him whenever he runs high fevers. His little body will burn so hot it hurts to touch him. I've tried sponging him, but it doesn't seem to help much. He doesn't like to be sponged too, which makes the task even more difficult. The last time he ran a fever, he ended up with a runny nose, cough, and ear infection. He had never had an ear infection before he turned 3 too! Oh well! Hopefully, the fever woes will leave him alone after a while!

Slow Eater

My toddler is a SLOW eater. There are times when he eats fast, but those times are far and few between! It is so frustrating when we eat out with other people, besides my husband and myself. We don't let him leave the table until all the food in his plate is eaten. We want to stick to that rule to cultivate good eating habits. We don't want him to waste food, or be choosy. Sometimes, he takes more than an hour to finish his food. Sometimes, he sits there and eat, and whine about not having anyone eating with him. Sometimes, he just sits there and takes his time finishing his food. I do wish there's a way to make him finish his food the same time as everyone else, but we haven't come out with a workable plan yet!

My Kid and TV

My little toddler loves to watch TV. Sometimes I fear that I allow him to watch too much. Even though he only watches the kids' channels, and I usually watch the shows with him, I still don't feel comfortable when he focuses on the TV, instead of playing with his toys. I do turn the TV off, when I think he has watched quite enough for a stretch of time. There are some shows that I just cannot stand - not for any particular reason, but just personal taste. My toddler is so worried that I'll turn off the TV, instead of switching channels, that he'll tell me, "Mommy, it'll (the show I don't like) be over soon!"

Halloween Thoughts...

Halloween is here soon. My son likes the candy he'll get when he goes trick-or-treating. However, he doesn't like to put on a costume, or saying "treat or treat".

The stores at this time are decorated with all kinds of Halloween stuff. There are ghosts who remove their own heads, and ask you if you want t see them do it again. There are inflated mummies, haunted houses, goblins, and other scary characters. My son trembles and closes his eyes, and makes sure he's in someone's arms, when he walks by such displays!

I don't know what my toddler will be this Halloween. I don't know if he's still little enough to be in cute Halloween costumes, or should I make something on my own?

Yucky Tantrums!!!

Why do children throw fits? Do they think they'll get what they want if they do so? Hasn't experience taught them throwing fits don't get them what they want? Just the opposite! Don't they know they get punishment, or something they do not want when they throw fits? Don't they know how irritating they make their parents with their tantrums?

Anyway, my toddler has started throwing uncontrollable, prolonged fits these days! Oh! I never guessed I would be one of those parents struggling with such a problem! I thought countless time-outs had cured him of this terrible (not so terrible when he was 2 then) behavior. Little did I know it would come back to haunt me, in double the ferocity when he turned 3!!! What did we do wrong? What is wrong with him? What shall we do? Do we have to make him go see a psychiatrist? These are questions we ask ourselves everyday...

Play with Meeeeee!!!

I'm sure anyone with a toddler at home hears this phrase all the time, "Play with meeeeee!" I do, all the time. The more the request is granted, the more often you hear it! I know it's bad to complain. We created these tiny creatures not to entertain ourselves, it's the opposite! We created them, and now we have to entertain, teach, and discipline them!

Of course, toddlers are social beings, just like we grown-ups are! We are more mature, and capable of doing things alone at times. However, toddlers have nothing much to do except to play. It's no fun to play alone - at least not all the time! I guess that's when setting up a play date comes in handy!

Into The World of Children Books

Reading children books can be great fun, especially with my 3-year-old. He loves to go to the library with me, and help pick out books for me to read to him. I like picking out books for him too! It's definitely more economical than buying books! My son and I also do not get bored with reading the same books all the time. There are tons and tons of books in the library. It'll take us a long time to have finish reading all the books there!

I find myself looking forward to reading a new batch of books we get from the library. This way, I'm enjoying reading the books to him, as much as he loves listening to the stories. My son loves books about trucks, trains, and cars. I try to have some about them every time we borrow books from the library. However, there are so many other books about other things too! We have fun discovering new things in the books together!

Free Time?

It was strange to leave my son at the Mother's Day Out, and for the first time, walked away from the building without him. I did not leave the building at once, in case, he needed me, I thought. Of course, he was busy playing with the toys in his room, not realising I was not even there any more.

Anyway, I drove away from the building reluctantly. Went to the grocery store, and leisurely picked up a few things. Went home, took a shower, and spent some time blogging. Thought about my son a lot, and started missing him. I decided to go pick him up earlier! When I entered the room, he was lying on his mat, watching the T.V., together with his new-found friends.

Bedtime Woes

My 3-year-old's bedtime is fast becoming a nightmare for my husband and me! He was sleeping in his own bed, in his own room, and was perfectly happy with the arrangement, till we spent our vacation in Singapore for about 3 months. He was suddenly terrified of the dark, and refused to sleep by himself. Since countless threats, and hard spankings did not do any good, we decided our son was truly afraid of the dark, and so we caved in and took turns sleeping with him in his room, naively thinking everything would revert itself to normal when we got back home after our vacation.

When we got home, the fear of the dark followed our son home. He refused to sleep in his bed, in his own room, like he used to do for almost 3 years. He would scream, and cry hysterically, when we left his room! No amount of threats or harsh spankings would "calm" him down.

We're not seeing any light at the end of the tunnel right now!

Scaredy Cats

I have been feeling bad about my 3 year old being a real scaredy cat recently. He has been crying at night, refusing to sleep alone, even though he's been doing that for some months now. He's scared of thunder, scared of loud noises, and even just ran to Daddy when there was a loud noise while he was watching Cars with his friends.

I don't feel so bad about it today, though. That's because 2 friends told me about their kids being scared of different silly little things. So scared they screamed and cried, one of them in public. And those kids were bigger -- one 7 and one 8.

I guess we all go through our stages being scaredy cats sometimes.

Sleepover

Got this book from the library that talked about sleepover. Read it to my toddler, and he was excited about the idea of sleepover. When my husband's parents came to visit (they live about 5 minutes from us), he invited them to sleep over. They graciously declined, and invited him to a sleepover at their place instead.

My toddler could not wait! So, one fine day, I packed his suitcase, and my husband and I drove him over to his grandparents'. He was very excited. He could not wait for my husband and me to leave! Sob! Anyway, we left some "instructions" with his grandparents, and went on our way.

At about 10:15, we received a call from my husband's dad. The little guy was feeling sad. He did not want to get into his pyjamas. He wanted his mommy and daddy. My father-in-law told my husband he told the little guy he could sleep on his papa's bed, if he would get into his pyjamas. My husband told his dad he did not think that was a good idea.

Well, we did not receive another call that night. We heard the next day the little guy ended up sleeping with his grandparents, and started kicking, and rolling around at about 5 in the morning!

Bugs Are Scary!

My 2-year-old, going to be 3-year-old is terrified of bugs - big or small. He's a boy! Boys are not supposed to be afraid of bugs! My husband is especially frustrated about this. Well, he thinks boys should not be afraid, but should LOVE bugs. My little one is even afraid of tiny ants!

I'm worried about him as summer draws near. I'm already beginning to see lots of love bugs flying around. The other day, when I took him to the library, a moth fluttered into the car, when I opened the door to release him from his car seat. He saw the moth, and went hysterical. I could not calm him down. Of course, I had to "shoo" the moth from the car, with him clinging onto me for dear life!

Hours after the incident, my toddler still asked me, "Mommy! Where's the moth?" Sigh! I do hope my son will outgrow his fear of bugs. I don't want him to come home with grasshoppers, or cockroaches in his pockets or backpacks, but I do wish he'll not freak out and cry when he's around bugs!

The Delight of Birthdays!

My son's going to be three years old soon! He did not know how to look forward to his 2nd birthday, and had no clue what was going on during his 1st birthday!

However, a big change seems to have come over him, as he approaches his 3rd birthday. He's looking forward to it every day. He'll ask me, "Is it my birthday?" almost every day. When we go to the store, he'll point out the birthday cakes on display excitedly. Of course, when we attend his little friends' birthday parties, he's just excited beyond control! He likes the presents that come with one's birthday, and has already told us what he wishes to get for his birthday.

Isn't it strange how we refuse to think about our birthdays as we get old? Some of us even quit celebrating it at a certain age! We become less excited about birthday presents too! We're even shy about mentioning our birthdays for fear of being asked our age. However, it seems the opposite happens when we reach a ripe old age, and still breathing (on our own)! Old people are happy, and almost as proud as a toddler, to reveal their ages. Guess when we reach our 80s, we should be thankful for our longevity!

Anyway, it's always delightful to see an innocent child look forward to getting bigger, and enjoying birthdays, and all the attention they get on this special occasion! Their behavior symbolises hope, I guess!

No Confidence

Yet another humorous piece written by hifidel!

Ruined

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Brownies

Check out this humorous piece written by hifidel!