The "No" stage

Yes, Anya has arrived at the "no" stage.It appears to suddenly dawn on her that routines are meant to be disrupted, rules broken and boundaries tested.

"Bath after drinking juice?" - No.
"Bring your cup to auntie to wash." - No.
"Say grace." - No.
"Keep your megabloks." - No.
"Time's up for using iPad." - NO!

Mind you, I noticed that the recent "Nos" have been perfected with a growling tone to it,as she looks straight into my eyes with a taunting glint shining from hers. Bah..! Where did she learn all these?

Coupled with this particular favorite word of the moment, she has further upped her boundaries-testing skills by requesting for all the things that she likes repeatedly. For example, she always knew that vitamin gummy is given only before bedtime at night and would only ask for it after she is changed into her pajamas. These days, she would start asking for it even before she has changed out of her pajamas to start the day.

It is as if our lovely angelic toddler has skipped her childhood and accelerated straight to the rebellious teenage stage overnight.

In response, The Husband and I have gone through rounds of strategising and brainstorming. Now, we are fully geared for battle with armour and what-nots. Keywords and key phrases of our battle plan are such as 'be firm', 'consistency', 'be firm', 'keep temper in check', 'be firm', 'try not to tear out what little hair that we already have', 'be firm', 'next better player please'.

Just an hour ago, I was out in the battlefield getting her to bring her cup to The Helper after she finished her juice and then go for her bath. Unfortunately, The Husband is away at work, so the backup plan of 'next better player please' was not an option for me. So, I had to suck it in, BE FIRM and repeatedly ask her to do what is expected, rationalising to her why good behaviour is needed along the way.

At some point, when I sensed that she was not going to budge from her couch, I told her that I would have to yank her out of her seat. Sure, I did. Together with the cup. By then, The Helper had disappeared into the kitchen, very harassed by all the crying. Had not being the fact that she (The Helper) had a role to play here of collecting the cup, I am pretty certain she would gladly disappear into the safety haven in the form of a dark and stuffy storeroom and shut the door behind her.

This time round, I even exerted self-control by holding back as she sobbed piteously and ran towards me, begging for hugs. Instead, I held her hand, led her back to the cup, and tell her "No. You got to bring the cup to auntie and go 'pompom'".  After a couple of times of her begging me to hug her and me leading her back to the cup again, she finally relented and did what was told. Then, I reiterated to her the importance of good behavior and obeying parents, then finally hugged her while praising her for the good job.

Phew..! Yes, Ms. Tan (my dear secondary form teacher), you were right about having to be cruel in order to be kind. This is going to be my new parenting motto.

On a lighter note, here's some random terrible iPhone quality pictures, some of which showing what Anya-zilla does best - destroying our building block works. In our defence, we have purchase another set of megabloks and built an enclosure around her to ground her.

'yum seng-ing' at a wedding banquet

Only Eeyore, Muff & Daddy are allowed access into Anyazilla's enclosure.

A weekend of celebrating little ones' milestones

Over the weekend, we celebrated one niece's turning of one month (and a week) old and another niece's turning of eight years old.

The first celebration was held on Sunday at The In-Laws' place, among close relatives. The SIL requested that I chip in my homemade tau suan (mung bean dessert) and I threw in another dish in the form of 'kong bak pau' - chinese subway, as one of the cousins explained to his son. I was chuffed that the relatives pronounced the kong bak pau as their number one favourite.

It was great to see both the SIL and her five-weeks old doing so well. Baby SQ looks exactly like the female version of her big brother! So no worries, my dear SIL! While you may be a little bit dismay that she looks like a boy now, given how handsome SK is, I am certain little SQ will grow up to be a pretty lass too! :)

Hot mama with her offspring

A cousin showing off her DIY M&Ms manicure

HEllo, cutie!

Five-week-old vs 19-month-old

Then, on Monday (it was a long weekend due to Hari Raya Haji), The Husband and I took C out for a belated birthday lunch. Well, her actual birthday was on Sunday where her parents had held a birthday bash at home. She had voiced her disappointment to my mom (her grandma) upon knowing that The Husband and I could not make it. So this was a make up treat for her.

The Husband and I had actually gotten her present weeks ago (for fear that I would give birth too early). In fact, we had also bought the other two nephews' birthday presents already (one in December, another in early January) and they are all stashed away neatly in our wardrobe. Very kiasu, this pair of uncle and aunt.

Don't the kiddos look like their grandma?

Go green. Give presents unwrapped.

Getting the birthday girl started on her new boardgame

 We were glad that C seemed to enjoy herself.  Since she started primary school, she seemed to have become this angsty and sometimes defiant tween. The C that gotten along with us yesterday was more like the girl that we always knew - chatty when alone with just The Husband and I whose love language is acts of kindness. No scowls, no rolling of eyes. Instead, she was all smiles the whole afternoon and was really sweet to Anya and her own little brother. Prayerfully, she will outgrow the rebellious phase quickly. 

A piece of bad news

An ex-colleague, who fostered a friendship with me because we became first-time mothers months apart, recently discovered that she had 4th stage of lymph nodes cancer.

It all started with a persistent backache that rendered her immobile after she fell pregnant again in recent months. She had to seek treatment immediately and has since terminated the pregnancy. This friend has started a blog to document her battle with the illness. If you do visit her blog, I am sure you will agree with me that this lady has astounding strength and optimism. While her story is heart-wrenching at the beginning, I am certain that she will emerge as a inspiring survivor at the end of her ordeal.

Please, together, let us keep her and her loved ones in prayers. Jiayou, YM!

Another conversation with The Tod

This time round, the conversation drove both of us nuts.

Here's the setting:
The Tod and I were watching Pororo on Disney Junior channel. This particular episode depicts how Crong (one of the character, a baby dinosaur) found a baby seal by the sea. I wish I could upload the picture of the said baby seal (the crux of this conversation), but I could not find it on the Internet. Anyway, for some reason - probably the husky "barks" of the baby seal, Anya thinks that it is a dog.

"Dog!", she said while pointing at the baby seal. 
"No, Anya. That is a seal. A baby seal.", I replied. 
With her chin slightly jutted, she repeated, "Dog!".
"No. It sounds like a dog, but it is a seal.", I explained.

This line of conversation ping-ponged to and fro between us for the next couple of minutes, with her repeatedly insisting that it was a dog while my patience thinned out while trying to get the facts across to her.

The end of this conversation was eventually initiated by The Tod whom, with a grave tone of finality drawled, "DO-O-O-OG..!..!", and simultaneously tossed a small toy in her hand onto the floor in exasperation.

Is this the start of mother-vs-child verbal sparring?

At 36 weeks

Last night, I had a series of Braxton-Hicks with a slight dull lower back pain. Those tightness around the tummy, alternating with Mini Bun's vigorous movements kept me from falling into deep sleep the whole night. I will be lying if I say the possibility of premature labour did not cross my mind. Especially given that groggy sleepy state, judgment tends to deteriorate.

Now I understand why some expectant mothers will have false alarms. Ironically, I do not remember being this confused about labour signs the first time round. Nor do I recall Anya's movements in my belly being so low. With Mini Bun, I could tell that her head is near the pelvic area and every time she turns her head, it feels like she is messing with my bowels and bladder. Very peculiar feeling! Quite uncomfortable, I should say! Hmmm.., I cannot even articulate how it feels like when she hiccups, which is very frequent in recent weeks!

Possibly the last pic of us deck out in nice outfit before we become a family of five.

Is The Husband trying to assume a preggy pose?