Tag Archives: 20mo

Ollie’s pace

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Ollie's keys made by Daddy Ting

Ollie’s keys made by Daddy Ting

these days, the monster is growing up so quickly that I want to document everything there is about his growing stages before I forget them. Sure, I’ve got Quentin to remind me next year all over again..but he may be another unique kid on his own. Haha.

Ollie loves imitating what we do on a daily basis. Taking off his pjs himself, slipping into his shoes standing up, wanting to feed himself, wanting to drink from a cup, wanting to press the button for the lift, wanting to open the mailbox and main door with keys, wanting to buckle himself up in high chairs and car seat. Doesn’t help that his favourite bedtime book is titled “I Can Do It“, so when he wants to do things himself, he will say “I do it!” We have been trying to get him to say “can”; he can pronounce it, but we figured the maximum number of words he can say in a sentence is 3 words. Good enough I reckon.

Because Ollie takes my keys sometimes and has somewhat scratched the main door and walls with it, Daddy Ting has decided that enough was enough and that he would make Ollie a pair of his own “keys” complete with a key chain. Hahaha. So off Donald went using putting holes in wall plugs so that it could slip into the key chain. Ollie was stoked. His very own set of keys! Now…what to do with it? It was his “car” keys, house keys and even mailbox keys. I made the “mistake” (you know what I mean…) of letting Ollie take the keys out with us on a regular trip to the market and we took double the time to walk.

Aiiiiii. Ollie would try to “open” or “lock” every door that he saw, attempt to put it in any key hole that he came across. I threw in some sound effects for good measure and he had a ball. It did mean I didn’t have to carry him tho. Win-..win situation I guess. But for now..those keys stay in my bag! Heh

So it’s detox week this week again! YAAAAY. Ollie and I have been busy with playdates and had his maternal Great Grandma & Godpas drop by for a surprise visit. It only meant that this mama gets to spend lesser money too! Double yay! And it also meant we could spend the weekend chilling away as a family.

Today, after picking up a freebie in town, we figured we would stop by the Ben & Jerry’s Chunkfest 2013 happening nearby at The Promontory. I mean, an ice cream festival. Need I say more?? We were going to head in when Donald saw the condition of the grounds, all muddy from the rain earlier in the day. Being the OCD cleanliness freak he is, he got turned off by it and decided that he and Ollie would walk outside whilst I headed inside to check things out. Managed to get a scoop of the Candy Bar Pie & Americone Dream each, some of the flavours brought in from the USA for this festival. Yuuuum. Also scored a free sample of the Couch Potato. Double yummms. Both scoops had Ollie’s stamp of approval. “dum i crim peas?” (some ice cream please?)

We then took a stroll around the area, Ollie running free and picking sticks and leaves and what nots. At one point, Donald was telling Ollie, “come on, let’s go!”  (tho he said it to see if Ollie would follow us or just wonder off on his own) when I thought, hey, let’s do things at Ollie’s pace and let him do what he wants to do, seeing that there wasn’t much of a crowd and there was ample space for him to run around. 

comparing sticks

comparing sticks

So off Ollie went, picking sticks and leaves and poking them into the gaps between the tiles, into holes in the manholes. He got a little fascinated by the road sweeper with his big sweep. He ran up to the Marina Bay City Gallery sign and was happily reading the letters out one by one. It took us about 45 mins to walk that distance but we were good. It was at Ollie’s pace. Sometimes I think we forget that the toddler’s perception of time is so much different to ours. And it was nice to watch him run around and do his thing.

Ollie has been pulling some really long-ass sleeping hours at night. Not that I am complaining, we get the bed to ourselves for a longer time! Usually Ollie is asleep by about 8pm, and fusses awake at about 2am. Donald will then bring him over to our room and we sleep till about 7 – 7.30am. But for the past two nights, Ollie slept till about 5am before waking and was being brought over. He would then sleep a little more, waking up at the usual 7 – 7.30am. So some really very nice hours. HOWEVER, this morning he woke up at 6am and wouldn’t go back to sleep. -_-” He did however go down easier for a nap in the afternoon and slept for about 2 hours whereas putting him down for a nap has been a nightmare for the past couple of days and he would only sleep for 1 hour.

Argh…what a trade off. Longer sleep at night, lesser nap time, and possibly earlier waking hours. *scratch head*. Just what is going through your brain, Ollie? Whatever it is, I hope I am not jinxing myself. *sigh* It has only been two nights…*hopeful*

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conversations

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Ollie's favourite activity: fingerpainting

Ollie’s favourite activity: fingerpainting

Somehow or rather, Ollie’s brain has just decided that “hey, I will just talk in sentences now”. 

It is pretty…mindblowing. He basically repeats every word that I would say to him. He would try and make me understand what he is trying to say, either with words or a mixture of words and actions. And it would also appear that he would repeat to try and understand what I just said.

Of course with such new found capabilities..there have been some hilarious and heartwarming moments.

Ollie loves to be given tasks to do, tasks that I would do around the house, tasks like feeding the cats, helping keep clean laundry (mostly his reusable diapers), putting his shoes back onto the shoe rack. Little tasks that he can handle. Lately, we have introduced a simpler way for Ollie to feed the cats, basically giving him half a scoop of cat food that he could hold without spilling and pouring it into the cat dish.

He has definitely taken his task really seriously, pouring it into only one side of the dish, picking up cat kibble that has spilled over the dish, trying to ensure that Thomas sticks to his side of the dish, including telling Marcus “Marker, eat? eat eat.” It is pretty cute.

But gosh..all this chatting is probably just as novel to Ollie as it is novel to us. Ollie no longer points at buses and goes “Bah!” He will now say “Take bus. Sit”. Buying something would mean “Mama, buy jah-ker (cracker). Give money.” (cheeky little bugger). Seeing my phone on the bedside table would mean “Mama, jar-ging phone.” And bedtime just got more interesting because now it takes double the time for Ollie to settle. Hahah well, poor Donald I guess. Ollie now talks for like 15 minutes non-stop, with Donald correcting some of the words he says, or grunting in acknowledgement, before he goes into settle down mode to sleep.

Now that we are getting the language portion out of the way..,may be we can get started on his dancing skills. Hrm.

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hey you

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hey you

hey you

hey you, little one. yes, you. you who call yourself “orwy”.

stop being so cute.

Okay, this isn’t meant to another blathering, cutesy post about Ollie. I think there has been enough posts about Ollie. Tsk. But how not to when he continually amazes me with what the human brain is capable of?? (damn psychology degree). Okay, I will try to make this a half Ollie, half rant post.

Thanks to Quentin (yes, that’s what we are naming #2), Ollie and I have been staying home a lot. And when I say a lot, it is compared to my norm. The only places we have ventured to are the wet market, Bedok central, and Tampines. Places where I know I can get home quickly if it is required. Gone are the days of going to Orchard and chillaxing with D. I definitely do not have the energy, nor patience to have to manhandle Ollie if he runs out of control. It is just more manageable at home. Toddler-proofed too.

That and having his naps right in the middle of the day does somewhat makes it hard for us to go out. But we’re cool. We manage our time fairly well, so that when Donald is home, he doesn’t come home to find a crazy housewife staring murderously at Ollie.

Well, we managed pretty well until Ollie fell sick last week. It started off with a lot of sneezing before the fever, cold and cough hit him in one go on Monday. So off to the doctor’s we went. By Wednesday, he was so lethargic that he spent half the time lying on the floor with the cats, or just slouching in a corner on the sofa. He actually fell asleep whilst sitting on my mom’s lap, and almost fell asleep again whilst showering. Haha. It was quite terrible to see him that way. Only plus point about it was the meds made him so drowsy that he would fall asleep within 10 mins for his naps and bedtime. Now THAT is one thing I missed most..but heck, I would rather forgo that than to see him sick.

Thing about our kids falling sick. No one feels any worse that the parent of the child. Of course relatives and friends who see a kid in that state will feel quite sorry for him. But let me reiterate firmly, no one feels it more that the parent of the child. The parent goes through the guilt of “why is this happening to my child?” to “could I have done something to avoid this?” to “was this something that I did with him/her that resulted in this?”. And believe me, these are the very thoughts that goes through each parent’s mind when their child falls ill, gets injured or is in pain.

So I definitely did not need anyone adding oil to fire by suggesting that I was not caring enough for my child. All the more so when I am a SAHM. Because I am the main caregiver and I am responsible for Ollie’s well-being. Up till that very moment when I felt I was being questioned (the said questions may have been asked in passing and not in accusation), I felt that I was doing a pretty good job with Ollie.

The last time Ollie got sick was back in June, a 3-month gap is pretty good if I might say so. Ollie can identify all 26 letters in the alphabets and can count up to 12 with some assistance. He can identify animals and the sounds they make. He has started string two words together. He recognises order and can follow instructions very clearly if in the mood. He can remove his pyjamas and pants himself, take off his sandals and put them back on the shoe rack. He understands when I tell him to wait before allowing him to press the button for the lift. He can handle feeding himself watermelon with a fork, whilst holding onto the plate/bowl, he can hold half a toddler cup of milk and drink it himself with minimal or no spillage. Ollie can repeat words said to him on demand (if he is in the mood haha). He has on one occasion told me he needed to go to the toilet and has successfully peed whilst on a toilet bowl. Although only one occasion, but I consider it a start. It will lead somewhere.

I would think I did pretty well, don’t you think? But funny how an outsider’s perception can easily put someone down. It did for me, and my confidence took a beating that weekend. Fortunately, I had a supportive husband who affirmed that I was doing a good job. Every single look of amazement on my husband’s face when Ollie demonstrates he has developed further is enough affirmation to me that I am doing well. Fortunately I have some friends who understand how I am feeling and have supported me through it. It made me think through about the kind of mother I am, and the kind of mother I am going to be to Ollie and Quentin, and the other siblings that the two boys may have in the future.

I am educated enough to make informed choices about how I choose to raise my children. Just because I do not follow your advice or suggestion doesn’t mean I only disagree with it. I may either disagree with it, or I have another preference that I am more comfortable with. I do not wish to pressure my child into doing something that I feel he is or may not be ready to do. This includes potty training. So stop asking me to potty train him. I allow my child to co-sleep with us cos I agree he sleeps better with his parents. It doesn’t make it into a “habit”. I do not believe in giving vitamin supplements because I believe that he is getting the sufficient nutrients from the food I cook him. He is allowed to be scared of anything he wishes to be scared of cos he is of an age where he may not understand why things happen. Being a “big boy” doesn’t make him less afraid of things. I am 31, and I’m afraid of roaches. So what does that mean? I allow Ollie to eat as much as he wants and as little as he wants. Force feeding only makes him eat unnecessarily more and makes subsequent feeding a lot more miserable for Ollie and I.

And for the record, Ollie is perfect, in size, weight, height. In my eyes, in the nurses’ eyes and in Donald’s eyes. And he is healthy. Stop saying he is skinny. I was a skinny kid and I turned out fine didn’t I? FFS. Just take it he has my genes. Don’t worry, he will put on some weight when he reaches my age.

The bottom line is I am not going to bear the consequences of anybody’s actions towards Ollie. Don’t make me pick up your shit cos I am the one looking after him. That said, I am doing a effing fine job raising my kid, thankyouverymuch. /end rant

Ahh..feels so much better.

That asides, Ollie has been really fun to be with lately (i.e., lesser tantrums and whinging sessions). He laughs off his whinging sessions cos I laugh at him. He laughs himself out of sticky situations (I was peeping to see what he was laughing at all by himself). And the both of us laugh at the silliest things. Gotta love our moments in front of the fridge with the alphabets, drawing sessions and us just lying on the floor in the living room or in his room, staring at each other. Best of all, his hugs and kisses for his younger brother. Though he loves to cheekily call Quentin “kor kor”, even though I think he knows that he is the “kor kor”. Haha.

Can’t wait to see what parenting is going to be like with two boys!

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