Pacifier Weaning Attempt

We found a hole in Randall's pacifier last night which we suspected was a result of his biting. So, we took this opportunity to try weaning him off the pacifier. We showed him the hole and told him it could not be used. Then we asked him to throw it into the rubbish bin, and told him no more pacifier. He was ok at first but started asking for it just before he went to bed. We reminded him that his pacifier had a hole and he has thrown it away. He asked for "the blue pacifier" (which was the other pacifier other than the white one he was using). We reiterated there was no more pacifier and that he's a big boy now, he could sleep without it. He tossed and turned restlessly, yawning all the while with his eyes wide open. Then he asked, ""Zui zui" (pacifier) where?"
"In the dustbin".
"Why in the dustbin?"
"Because it's spoilt"
"Why spoilt?"
"Cos there's a hole"
"Why there's a hole?"
"Cos Randall bite it"
"Why Randall bite it?"
"That, you'll have to ask yourself"
Silence...
"Why yourself?"
"yourself means Randall. Who's Randall?"
"Don't know.." (Hmm... In denial)
I think we repeated this conversation over and over again like 10 times. Finally, he knew that he would not get his pacifier and he started to repeat to himself, "Pacifier spoilt", "Pacifier in dustbin".
One hour past his bedtime, he was beginning to become hyper, grouchy and irritable, like a drug addict without his drug. It's probably understandable since he was at it for the past 2 years. However, between sucking pacifier and his thumb, we decided then that the former would be a better choice. We can take him off his pacifier ultimately but not his thumb! Looking at him suffering from his withdrawal syndrome, Daryl almost wanted to give in and give him his new pacifier but I persisted. Finally, with much patience and struggle, he was exhausted enough to sleep 2 hours past his bedtime.
After 2 hours' sleep at midnight, he woke up in tears, feeling agitated and grouchy, asking for his pacifier again. That was when we decided he should have his pacifier back. Poor boy... I must give him credit for trying but I don't think he is ready to go cold turkey for now.

Boobs?

We were in the lift of our block last evening when Randall pointed at Daryl's chest (fortunately, with no one else around) and asked, "What's that?" Daryl replied, "Boobs." And Randall went, "Boob... Book... Boobs.. Boobss..." all the way to our house and then, he blurted, "Dad Dad's Boobs!" Hmm.. On hindsight, we should have told him that was Dad Dad's chest. Sounds more... polite.

East Coast Park

Brought Randall to East Coast Park to cycle last Sunday morning. He LOVES it, which is good for us since it's one of the few exercises we can do together with him now. At first, Daryl was careful at riding his bicycle with him in the baby seat in front. But I think this little boy found the speed too slow and told his dad eagerly, "Faster! Faster!" Haha... ya, he's one hell driver himself. You should see how he turns the sharp corners and stops abruptly when he drives his little car at home! By the end of the one-hour ride, Randall was so tired he mistook a lady (wearing the same colour) on bicycle for me. I was returning the bicycles and when I turned around, I saw Randall standing beside this lady, hugging her leg and shouting, "Mummy carry! Mummy carry!" Her guy friend (or boyfriend) who was on another bicycle behind her stared at them, flabberghasted. Haha...

Secrets

Just because Randall understands English, Chinese & Cantonese, we have problem telling secrets in front of him. So, we resorted to using Hokkien (which I suspect he understands abit) and spelling the word. Like this morning, I wanted to tell Daryl that I forgot to bring his favourite yoghurt along to MIL's house. Knowing the consequence on reminding him of his favourite food (bugging MIL the whole day to eat yoghurt), I'll have to tell hubby mindfully, "Oh no, I forgot to bring... y-o-g-h-u-r-t!". Hmm.. Wait till he starts schooling and learn spelling.

Quality Time

Randall has been really grouchy on weekday mornings lately, and it got worse the past two mornings. We contributed it to his emerging molar teeth. We also suspected that it's due to our limited attention for him on weekday mornings. As he gets older, we realise that he needs more of our time and attention. Of course, we'll be more than happy to spend our time with him but unfortunately, we don't have the luxury of time on weekdays. Most of the mornings, he'll start hounding us to play/read/watch TV with him. He'll pass me his toy aeroplane/bulldozer and ask me to play with him. I'll just put it aside and ask him to play by himself, or just play for a sec before carrying on with my stuff. I believe he can sense our patronizing attitude. It'll be at this point that he starts kicking a fuss and ask me to "Carry! Carry!". Well, being a 12-14kg boy himself, I could hardly carry him and do my stuff at the same time, without ending up sweating like a pig. So most of the mornings, I will end up sweaty AND feeling sorry for not being able to give my darling boy more time and attention. And knowing myself, I'll definitely go crazy if I stop working to be a sahm (stay-at-home-mum). So, I think I'll just try to spend more time with Randall during the weekends and as and when I can. Hmm.. How can anybody ever cope with more kids??

Library

Randall enjoys going to the library. Everytime he's there, he will hum his song and walk ahead, straight into the children's section where his shelves of toddler books are placed. Last Saturday, as he was walking in the children's section, he bumped into this malay boy of the same height. His hands were at his waist, chest out and his chin tilted up, looking and behaving very challengingly at Randall. Being a protective mum myself, I hurried towards them, just in case he started hitting my boy. But Randall just looked at him in amazement, with the what-are-you-trying-to-do look. They stood very closely, staring at each other for a good 10 sec. No action, no talk, nothing. Then the boy decided to move backwards, while Randall just stood in his spot, swinging his hands, in his extremely good mood and oblivious to the "danger" he was facing. At this point, I quickly pulled Randall away. Sometimes I just hope that Randall knows how to protect himself in circumstances like this. But then again, if not for his amiable approach (to anyone other than his family, that is), I think they might have started fighting already. :P

You're my sunshine

Everynight, Randall will sing himself to sleep, and he'll also ask me to sing to him. Lately, he seems to like "You're my Sunshine". Kept asking me to sing it to him. So there I went, singing the same old song to him last nite. When I sang the last phrase ("...Please don't take my sunshine away"), he asked, "Why? Why take sunshine away?"
I was stunned for a moment, "Urm.... why... hmm... cos Randall's gonna grow up and have his own life... And then.. urm... he'll have his friends and work?"
"Where's DadDad & MaMa?"
"Eh.. we'll be old and then... urm.. DadDad will stay home and play his computergames and MaMa will watch TV. Randall will go work, OK?"
He seemed pleased and said, "OK!"