Yes Rice

Last week, Ian finally graduated to rice!

This is a definitely a significant milestone in his life, worthy enough for a blogpost on its own. After months... No scratch that... Years of coaxing and forcing rice down his throat, finally he agreed to have some without a fight. (The rice he had in Disneyland doesn't count because we had a very high leverage in play at that point.)

So he now has at least a meal of rice daily. He started with rice and soup but we're now introducing slight variants such as fried rice and rice with kicap and egg. Baby steps, but we're getting there slowly but surely. Just the other day, we had a full day out and he must have been hungry or something (but egoistic enough not to ask for rice), so he innocently asked, "What about nasi?" *chuckles*

The two boys in Paris, where he had his first rice.

Other than that, a major milestone for him is ... (drum roll please)... He's diaperless!!! For officially a month now. So happy that all those money I used to spend on buying diapers, is going into my handbag fund... NOT!

Also, super proud to record here that he can now sleep on his own effortlessly. No more wails of "But it's scaryyyyy" nor me having to accompany him in the room until he sleeps. It all started because the night before we left for our short holiday in Penang, I threatened the boys that they must all sleep as soon as they hit the bed. If not there would be no holiday the next day. I left them wide awake and they slept on their own. Since that, I haven't had a problem at all. Loving the freedom!!!

Not scared of Captain Jack Sparrow!

He still hates school so I'm scratching my head on this still. By hook or by crook I'm enrolling him into school, but how I get him to stay there is going to be a challenge. I'm already anticipating a challenging first month - he's already freaking out whenever we attempt to leave him for activities independently. Last month he bawled at the IKEA kids play area, forcing us to pull him out. We went to a trampoline park recently and tears started pouring down his cheeks because he thought we were leaving him there. He wailed, "What about you???", as if I was going to dump him and flee the scene! It took him a good ten minutes of crying (while jumping, mind you) until he was convinced that I wasn't going anywhere. *sigh* Wish me luck.

I've started to introduce him to writing alphabets and numbers. Surprisingly he has mastered the grasp of the pencil all on his own. Since he didn't grow up watching Elmo singing ABCs like Aiden (his childhood was watching Aiden watch Minecraft), he still can't sing his ABCs and 123s. Which is quite funny since he recognizes them both very well - a remarkable difference if compared to Aiden at the same age.

Attempting some homework.

Although he was previously bilingual, he is now starting to turn into the next Aiden. Refuses to talk in Malay. *pulls hair in despair* Excellent English vocabulary. He says the darnest things too! He's also picked up my favourite phrase "Hello???", which I usually use on them whenever they are not listening to me. So now whenever I'm concentrating on a TV show and not listening to his happy chatters, he would come up to me and say, "Hello!!!" *chuckles* Serves me right! I've told him that he needs to mind his manners and say, "Excuse me, Mummy", but it's going to take awhile to drum that into his head.

Similar to Aiden at his age, he hates water dripping onto his face. Hates water slides. Hates any water play, period. He absolutely despised the Splash Zone in Golden Sands, preferring to play quietly with his toys in the kiddy pool. Time to enroll him for swimming class!

I guess that's it! Just a few months shy from turning 4, and then he's going to be enrolled into 5 year old reception just the month after. Ah, time flies, Ian! But always have and always will be, my baby.