This month, I noticed that Little Edison is striving to take control of all his activities. When I call him to come in, he will runs away laughing and hoping that I will chase after him. When we want him to get dressed before we go out, he decides on which shirt and pants to wear for the outing. When we serve him with fruits cut into bite-size and a fork, he chooses to eat with his fingers. And the list goes on…
A big part of toddler development is to learn to be independent, I understand. But sometimes, independence also caused him to behave in inappropriate ways too. Here are a few examples:
Incident #1:
Little Edison asked for a bottle of Yakult. I told him not to drink because he still have minor cough. He refused to listen and he walked to the kitchen. He opened the fridge and took a bottle of Yakult. Then, he opened the kitchen drawer and took a straw. He put the straw into the Yakult and started sipping happily. I looked at him in dismay. He is now tall enough to reach all handles and doors in our house.
Incident #2:
Last night, I told our helper to go to Shop N Save (opposite our block) to buy a loaf of bread. Little Edison wanted to tag along but I gave him a stern NO. He made a big fuss when I ignored him totally. The angry ME opened the door and asked him to go down himself. Much to my surprise, this little daredevil quickly put on his slippers, walked out of our house and right into the lift – ready to press the lift button to go down! I rushed out to hold him back. Otherwise, I strongly believe he will walk to Shop N Save all by himself.
My question now is – how should I handle this little daredevil who is so stubborn and refuse to listen? What approach should I use?
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Few days ago, my brother-in-law Kenneth asked me if we have started planning for Little Edison’s 3rd birthday. Initially, my respond was like “Huh? So fast?” When I think of it again, his third birthday is just three months from now.
Yay! My little baby is turning THREE soon. It didn’t seem like such a long time ago that he was a baby whose cheeks smelled like cottage cheese. I watch him growing up day by day. He has blossomed into a bright little boy who continually amazes me each day with his insatiable curiosity, independence and love for learning.
It is incredible to witness how much his speech progresses each day. Everyday, he will hug me and say “I love Mama!” He may not be aware of how much these three words mean to me. My heart melts every time I hear these words.
Except being a fussy eater, Little Edison is generally an easy child to care for. His fussy eating behavior used to drive me to the edge of madness. I was constantly worried about his size, his weight and not-eating enough. But at some point, I realized that this fussy eating phase is common in children. He will grow out of this phase soon.
There is nothing wrong being petite. As long as he is growing up fit and healthy, I know I’m on the right track.
This is my little boy at 2 years and 9 months old.
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Little Edison: “Mommy, can we put our heads together and solve this?”
He was stuck for a while with piece #6, and then I gave him a clue. He thought about it and he finally found the answer. Then, we moved on to piece #7.
Little Edison enjoys playing with his Noddy Fun Book because the game challenges his mind. Every single piece requires him to think, reason and develop understanding of concepts in order to complete the game. He has completed most of the Level 1 games and now moving on to Level 2.
By putting the pieces together, he will also work on his hand-eye-coordination. I love to buy educational games and puzzles for him as I believe they are the best developmental toys for a 3 year-old.
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Little Edison is about to complete his half a year in pre-school now. I can’t believe how quickly time flies. June school holidays are just a week away from now.
Last month, I received a letter of notification from school about our first parent-teacher meeting that has been scheduled on 29 April 2010. It was our first parent-teacher meeting at Edison’s school.
Of course, I was anxious and excited. I’ve been counting down to this special day. I suppose it will be interesting to hear from the teachers what my little boy has been doing in school for the past four months.
The teachers, principal and other staff members of the school are very friendly, patient and caring. Daddy V and I are happy that Little Edison is in good hands. Every morning when I drop him off at school, his teacher receives him with a warm and cherry smile. Occasionally, I get updates about his progress at school from the communication book and through phone calls. This parent-teacher meeting will be our first face-to-face meeting with the teachers to discuss about his performance in school.
In general, Little Edison is adapting well at school. He is displaying most of the milestones of a 3-year-old. He is very alert and he has strong observation skills. He can adapt to the structure of the typical school day, understand rules and regulations if these are explained clearly to him. He is also confident to try out all indoor and outdoor activities at school.
One thing that really took me by surprise is that he is rather quiet at school. On the other hand, he prattles away non-stop at home. He can speak fluently and appropriately with us. The teacher has commented that his silence at school probably arises because he is not yet fully at ease with the other children and adults. She will continue to encourage him to be more vocal in class.
He spends much of his time on his own activities rather than playing with others. The teacher described it as “solitary play” which is quite normal for children under the age of 3. It takes time for a child to master the art of playing with other children and demonstrates social behaviors. We were relieved when the teacher mentioned that he didn’t display negative behaviors like hitting other children at school.
There are lots of everyday challenges that he is expected to manage on his own (although still under supervision by the teachers). For instance, he needs to be able to attend to his toileting needs independently. These include knowing when to use the toilet, be able to pull his pants down and back up again tidily as well as washing and drying his hands afterwards. I was impressed when the teacher told me that he can very well do it on his own.
To us, every little achievement he has made at school is as remarkable as setting foot on the moon. We want him to have a good time at school, enjoy his company of friends and develop a love for learning.
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It was a quiet night. Little Edison was asleep and Daddy V was working on night shift. I looked at the pictures in my laptop, and I had a sudden thought of making a picture collage of Little Edison from his first month till now.
So, this is the picture collage -
I can still remember vividly the night of 10 Sept 2007 at 11:45pm, when we checked into the labour ward in Mt. Alvernia Hospital. My gynae came in with his slippers, broke my water bag and put me on drip. I ended-up with emergency c-section three hours later when fetal distress was detected. The whole birth experience was relatively painless as I was on general anesthesia.
Well, that was three years ago. How quickly time flies!
The past three years have been an amazing time for us. At birth, Little Edison arrived in this world with an enquiring mind, ready to discover and explore. We help this process along by providing him with love, attention and care.
From a baby who spends much of his day either feeding or sleeping, he has blossomed into an assertive toddler with growing sense of independence. He continues to develop at an impressive rate with a thirst for knowledge that is insatiable.
For the next three years, he will continue to move at an astounding pace into his pre-school years. He will face many challenges along the way, but that’s part of his growing up. He will acquire knowledge and skills through his own efforts.
When I look at him now, there are just no words to describe how much I love him. He is more important than anything else in this world. At times, I really feel that I don’t want to have another baby because I want to give him all my love and attention. I don’t want to plunge into another pregnancy until I’m financially ready to quit my job and stay at home with my baby. I don’t want Little Edison to feel deprived when I have to send him to the childcare. I can’t bear the thought of my boy being neglected and deprived of attention in the childcare.
(I’m sorry if I sounded too negative about childcare centers. It’s all due to my past bad experiences.)
Little Edison, Mommy loves you always and forever!
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