So it’s good that Caitlin has been able to read the alphabet for a while now.
The other day, while assisting with her pj’s, she noted “M” on the tag of her pj pants.
“Daddee, why am I wearing pyjamas for boys?”
“Huh?” Looking at the colour scheme of what she had on. “No, these are colourful pyjamas, both boys and girls can wear them…”
“But there’s a “M” written on it, and “M” is for Man.”
This title certainly got you clicking 
Everyone has their styles. Some hold their groins scurrying and yelling “I gotta go I GOTTA GO” while others do so subtly, yet while others (still) don’t tell you AT ALL that they have done it.
As far as a number 1 goes, Caleb won’t tell you. At all. Until you carry him and feel the wet diaper on your forearm, or when you discover the puddle of pee on the floor, while he is still running around being his 2year old self discovering and/or copying what his older sister does.
For his number 2′s however, is something I haven’t seen “done” before.
I understand everyone needs their privacy, whether it’s cos the poop is gonna stink, or that it’s simply because it’s the action of pooping. But for a 2 year old, what’s “privacy”? So it is with a lot of laughter of adorableness when we hear about, and then get to see, how my boy does it.
In private.
When you kinda suddenly discover him missing, you start to wonder whether he’s okay- but more often than not it’s because he has run to some corner of the room/house; preferably behind something, and pushing. It doesn’t matter if the pusher is 2 or 20 years old, I believe all humans push the same way. It becomes a lot more “funny” when it’s on a 2 year old boy. The same slight-squirm, the same red-face. Only standing up, hiding in some corner.
When we discover him “midway” he is somewhat apprehensive, don’t-come-any-closer kinda gesture. Dunno why. Perhaps at (only?) 2 he is starting to feel shame and embarrassment already. This idea is emphasised when I tease him (yes this Daddee teases his kids)- at any “usual” moment I’d look at him and say “Ngg ngg? Ngg ngg??” (the local baby talk for pooping; I think you can imagine how that term came about!) where he’d quite vehemently declare “Mai! MAI!” (which till today we are wondering whether he is trying to speak Hokkien dialect when most of what he hears is Cantonese where “no” is “moi”, not the Hokkien “mai”) as if the act of it is shameful.
Not that we make fun of him, maybe he is starting to develop his own self awareness and image (self respect?)
For now, I will still laugh at him. It’s okay if he develops a complex surrounding pooping. Having a complex surrounding pooping is okay compared to “performance anxiety” surrounding peeing, at the men’s room urinal.
Heh.
Posted in A father's POV, A toddler's POV, Caleb the heir, Ergonomics, life skills, Parenting musing
Tagged growing up, scarring, skills, stools, toddler
*Jie jie means older sister in Mandarin, and coincidentally, also in Cantonese; just in different intonations.
Between my two kids, the one who seems to show more compassion is, surprisingly, my son.
Maybe because Caitlin has somewhat been spoiled being the centre of attention for the first 3 years of her life. Maybe she unconsciously resents the now-diverted attention to her younger brother. Maybe she just needs some coaching on how to be an older sibling- we certainly remind her how to be, all the time.
She bullies him, teases him, taunts him. She pushes him, on the pretext of getting him to move. These are not evil intentions, it’s just her playfulness overwhelms her supposed characteristic of being the carer as the older sibling. At 3+ years older than him, she is obviously more advanced than him, and therefore he mimics almost everything he sees her doing.
Yet he still adores his jie-jie.
Upon waking, after seeing me and Mummee, he asks for his jie-jie. Caitlin doesn’t ask for him when she wakes. He quite willingly goes over to hug her when we suggest so.
I was told of this story only this week: Caitlin was away in school. Grandma had some raisins or similar goodies for Caleb. One for Caleb, and one for Caitlin; where Grandma told Caleb that this was reserved for his older sister.
The boy held on to it as much as he physically could- as in not wanting to put it down. As much as he liked this goodie, he was saving it for his sister. When the time came to pick her from school (or when she arrived home) he rushed to offer it to her. “JIE-JIE, nah!” and sticks it out towards her.
Yes he does also wear some of his jie-jie’s hand-me-downs, even those in pink. Okay only in private, like pj’s.
Caitlin has always been a little taller than average for her age.
One day she came up to me all serious and asked “Daddee, am I tall?”
“Yes darling, you are considered tall for your age. Why?”
“I heard Grandma and Mummee telling their friends and say that I am tall.. and I don’t like when they laugh at me..”
“They are not laughing at you; why would you think that?”
“….”
“It’s ok, maybe even good, that you are tall for your age. You know how you are in Pre-3 class where your friends are at least more than a year older than you?”
Nods.
“Well, even though you may be the youngest there at least you are not the shortest.”
“I guess… but I don’t like it when they laugh at me..”
“They are not laughing at you, they are just saying that you are. Well, now that you are tall, don’t you think that it’s good, that you can reach for things by yourself now? You can almost touch the light switches now when you jump, wash your hands now without a stool, you feet now being able to reach the ground when you cycle?”
“I guess…”
~~~~
Years ago when I was an adolescent I remember a conversation my parents had with Dr Pixie. I can’t recall how the topic was brought up, but it revolved around someone who was still quite short for his/her age, and Dr Pixie said there was something- either a shot or taken orally (hormones?) that can assist this kid in a growth spurt.
“Wouldn’t that just make him grow faster, rather than taller (eventually)?” I asked.
Dr Pixie looked at me, almost looking glad that someone asked that. “Good question” she said readily, “that could very well be the case- yes”- to which my brother gave me a thumbs-up “Can be a doctor!”
Dr Pixie proceeded to offer that ultimately it was still one’s genetics that determined a person’s height.
I am happy that Caitlin is tall for her age- she is not too tall, just that she therefore appears older than her age. Call me discriminating, but I’d prefer her to ultimately be an average height woman. I have seen really tall ladies and I do know they have trouble finding men!
Would I personally be intimidated about dating a taller woman? Possibly. I say this because I suppose I’d never approached and chat up anyone taller than I!
There’s something I just revealed about myself; well we also know that I am not a doctor, as much as I’d like to be
Posted in A father's POV, A toddler's POV, Caitlin the heiress, Ergonomics, Parenting musing
Tagged growing up, sharing
Kids had only just gone back to school after a really really long year-end break.
Being the rather laid back parents that we are; okay maybe “lazy” is the better description, we had only left it to the kids to entertain themselves with repeated playing of their favourite DVD’s.
One in particular this season was/is Ice Age 3 (as opposed to last season, being Bee Movie). If you don’t know the franchise, the main characters are a couple of mammoths, a sabre tooth tiger, a sloth, and two brothers of possums. In a previous installment these have banded together as a herd, sharing with us viewers their adventures. I wouldn’t call them “adorable”; maybe because it has been repeatedly played-to-death so often that it has definitely lost its appeal.
They say kids and people dream about what they thought of or saw the most of during the day. Yup, you guessed it: Caitlin dreamt about these characters. Two nights in a row, in fact.
She shared this with me over a few “sessions”, first being during our car ride to Grandma’s in the morning before going to work, and then continued when she saw me afterwards.
She dreamt of Manny and Elly, the mammoth couple.
I asked if I was there. No. I asked if they were big. She said not really. I corrected her that mammoths used to be huge like a big car or bus (I try to watch Discovery channel as much as I can; will explain “try” another time!) I wanted to ask if they were friendly, but she quickly offered that they were, ‘cos they and the herd were travelling together with her; except Diego the sabre tooth lion. I guess Caitlin doesn’t quite fancy him all that much.
Later at home when she was relating her dreams during her later sessions, we overheard Hot Mummee exclaiming how she’s got a headache. Caitlin whispers to me “Maybe Mummee didn’t have nice dreams like I did; please don’t tell her I said that, okay?”
I like when she shares stuff with me. I hope she keeps this up forever through the ages, for obvious reasons.
