I’m a proud Mommy - came home from work today and Grandpa Yao happily told me that Owen “poop-poop”ed in the potty this morning! To make sure that I shared in the joy and witnessed this historical event, Grandpa and Grandma Yao deliberately saved the poop for me to see (despite the fact that it was stinking up their bathroom ;P ). Being a Mom, I almost went running for my camera to take a picture of this poop for memory sake!

I asked Grandpa Yao if Owen got scared when the potty started singing and he said no, though he did find it very amusing! Hopefully, that will encourage him to go running to the potty next time he has an urge to poop!

Pee-pee. Pee-pee. I am no longer happy with status quo - now that I can tell when I have just peed in my diaper, I demand my diaper to be changed right away. You have no excuse of not doing so since I point to the bulge between my legs and tell you “nao nao” (pee-pee in Chinese).

Mommy said it is time to potty train me, but she is still waiting…waiting for warmer weather to train me since it takes a while for me to pee into my little potty and she doesn’t want me to freeze my little buns off. The other day, she and auntie-grandmother tried training me for the first time. They sat me on my little potty and kept whistling to me. After 30 seconds or so, my little “birdie” would wake up and want to pee pee, but I would hold it in and stand up because I am not sure what I am supposed to do; it’s a new sensation for me to pee into an open space (vs. the constraints of a diaper) and I am not sure if it’s ok to pee. Poor Mommy and auntie-grandmother tried repeatedly for 10 mins, but every time I would stand up involuntarily just when I am about to pee. They finally gave up and put the diaper back on me so I can pee at ease.

Mommy wants me to start getting used to the potty though. Here are some pics of me testing out my cute potty. It’s supposed to be sing when I pee into it to encourage me to pee next time, but most likely will scare the heck out of me the first time when it happens.

Following my mami’s foot steps, my dadi will go to B-school from this week (what is funny? he even go to the same B-school as my mommy!!), he promised me he will make me a business man, so I have to practice to be a little business-man, from now! Check my first day being the boss !!

I’ve been scratching my head constantly for the past few days in search of answers to Owen’s two recent “non-angelic tricks”:

1) Hitting people
2) Throwing food on the floor

First on the people-hitting: he started this behavior sometime last month (~18 months) and used to just hit me, but now hits grandpa and grandma Yao frequently as well. Initially, we told him “no, no, can’t hit people.” Doesn’t work. Then I tried hitting his hand lightly, hoping he realize that it hurts and stop this behavior. No luck. Last technique I tried was giving him time-out in his room for 5 mins. Worked for 1-2 days only. Since this is becoming a daily action for him, I was alarmed by the aggression he was showing; at a loss as to what to do, I researched a bit online for suggestions and advice. What I read comforted me.

First of all, it is common for children this age to hit, bite, or kick (thanking God already for me only having to deal with 1 out of 3 behaviors). This is because toddlers during this phase is still preverbal, and yet wants their own independence, and thus they have much more opportunities to be stuck in a situation where they are frustrated or angry, but can not express themselves verbally. They do not know what to do, so they lash out; once they learn to really talk, most toddlers will grow out of this phase. This is completely the case with Owen. Looking back, I have noticed that Owen hits only under 2 circumstances: 1) When you make him do what he doesn’t want to do (ie.eat food when he’s not hungry) or 2) When you don’t let him do what he wants to do (ie.turned off the computer when he wants to watch singing flash videos or Barney dance).

What to do? Several things:
- Do not hit him back. Toddlers is not capable of making the association that since it hurts when others hit them, they should stop hitting others. The only message they will get, instead, is that hitting is ok since you - the parents - do it too.
- Try to catch toddler in the action and while holding his hand in yours, tell him that hitting hurts. Then guide his hand to gently brush your cheek, saying “touch gently”. Experts say that toddlers this age needs to be provided an alternative; telling them what to do vs. what not to do.
- Verbalize toddler’s feelings for him. For example, tell him that you understand that he’s frustrated with xyz. If possible, again, try to provide an alternative to the source of frustration. (if he wanted a glass, provide him with a plastic cup instead) If not, redirect.
- Be consistent.

I just started following these suggestions today so we will see if it works. Haven’t really found a solution to the throwing-the-food problem other than the fact that most likely, it just means that toddler is not hungry.

“Gong Shi Fai Cai” (it means Happy New Year and may you have good fortune in this year, this is the No1 greetings when people met each other during Chinese New Year). For some reason, Owen just knows how to say these few words so quickly, turns out this very timely for celebrating the Chinese New Year, what a perfect timing to pick up new skills! Best wishest to everyone!

It has been a while since the last time the Dad spelled some “wise words” (in case you didn’t notice, I own the special column “Dad’s wise words). Looking back, I start to feel being (good) parents is the most difficult job in the world. You need skills, you need positive altitude, and the best of all, you need good patience. The child can pick up bad habits so much faster than learning the good ones (for one thing, we didn’t need to spend extra effort to get Owen *love* to eat American French Fries, compares this to the endurance needed to make Owen like nutritious Asian food, to this, hats off to all the parents reader of this blog

Follow the tradition of dad’s wise word column, here are some great celebration photos we took for this year of Rats (more to find after you visit the gallery). Now let me say this to everyone: “Gong Shi Fai Cai”.