Potty Training Made Easy

<Taken from my previous blog>

We started potty training Aleesya at 19 months. Actually, it was unplanned as she was suffering from constipation the month before. We had to sit her on the toilet bowl for quite a long period of time just for her to poo-poo. She eventually healed from constipation, but continued on the routine of sitting on the toilet bowl and refused to poo-poo in her diaper. Sometimes, terbabas jugalah poo-poo in her diaper especially when we're on the go... But, most of the time, she'll be doing her business in the toilet like a pro. We skipped the whole kiddy potty introduction and went straight to using the kiddie toilet cushion. 

We're half way there in completing her potty training lesson. Aleesya still wears diaper because she still pee in her diaper though. She keeps letting us know when she's done peeing in her diaper - and that's a bit too late. No rush, the time will come eventually... We started training her on weekends now. Yes, it's much tougher for working moms as we only havE weekends to actually train.

Anyway, just to share a few tips n how to potty train your kid.

1. Educate your kid the term of "pee" and "poo" - like Aleesya, "u-uk" is for poo-poo and "shi-shi" for peeing
2. Be patient. There will be countless times when she said that she wants to poo/pee but it's just a false alarm.. 
3. Wear "easy to remove" clothing to ease the process
4. Always carry an extra diaper when you're on the move - just in case
5. Teach your kid to squat to make cleaning easier.
6. Ensure your toilet is child safe especially slippery floor. I place a mat for her to stand on during cleaning.
7. Always applaud and compliment your kid when she does it successfully. 

And lastly, tips from my own kid :

Let me show u how it's done..
1st, sit on the cushion and wait.....

When u feel like it, just push... eeeeeeeeeeeek

Once done, just call ur Mommie!

To date, Aleesya is totally diaper free except during the night. We still have issues in dealing with her wetting herself while sleeping. Hopefully we are able to successfully train her by the year end.

Preparing for a Sibling

Aleesya has been the only child for 4 years.. she's used to having everything her way. When we broke the good news to her, she was really excited!! Maybe the only thought she had was that she would have a friend to play with.. She also made us call her "Kakak"!

Ever since that, Aleesya had so many questions about babies - like where do babies come from and why is it in my belly, how come my belly becomes big, and how come it takes so long for the baby to pop out. My hubby and I try to answer those questions the best we could, making it clear for a 4 year old to understand. We also brought her along to my scheduled eaminations/checkups, where she get to see the progress of her little brother/sister. She was ecstatic the first time she heard the baby's heartbeat and movements. I almost cried with joy watching her so happy.

At the first stage of pregnancy, I had really bad headaches and sickness and needed lots of rest. She really felt the change and often ask for me to play with her in her playroom. I felt so guilty for not having the time with her. I would replace our activity time with bedtime stories instead. When my pregnancy reached the 2nd trimester and I felt much fitter, I spent any free time I had playing with her, recovering the lots times. 

Hubby and I included her in our pregnancy discussions, asking her opinion on potential baby names, letting her decide when shopping for baby, helping out sorting her old baby clothes for baby and etc. The idea is to get her all hyped up and be participate in the whole process.

But, as much as we try to treat Aleesya the same and avoid giving too much attention to the baby/pregnancy, Aleesya still feels a bit left out. And there will be meltdowns waiting to occur anytime.. For example, at my stage of pregnancy, I cannot do any heavy lifting and that includes carrying her (she's 17kg btw). There was this incident when we were both alone at home and she was behaving a little too manja and wanted me to carry her up the stairs. I told her politely that I couldn't because I am carrying "adik" inside. She started crying and begged me. It was heartbreaking to watch her like that and I started crying too, explaining to her that it would hurt adik and Mommie if I do so.. She became angry and said, "Asyik-asyik adik je!" Her replied really shook me and I quickly hugged her and told her I love her so much and nothing would change that. We both cried for a bit longer and later I led her upstairs, walking hand in hand. At that very moment, I thought, gosh, this would be REALLLLYYYY hard. Well, I know the fact that it would not be easy, but it's easier said than done.. She's already feeling a bit jealous of the baby right now. I think it'll be a bigger challenge once the baby arrives... huhu


I don't want to sound dramatic.. Most probably, that incident is just a one-time situation (hopefully it is) and she is pretty ok with having a sibling after all. 


Just last weekend when we were crossing a drain.

Aleesya : Mommie, elok-elok tau. Mommie ada baby dalam perut tu. Chacha xpe, Chacha can jump!

How thoughtful.. I don't know whether to laugh or cry... :)

Cooking Together

Aleesya loves to bug me in the kitchen.. She likes to watch me cook, ask me what the ingredients are and so on.. Sometimes she would bother me too much and distract me from my cooking.. I am not a good cook, so any interuptions could spell DISASTER! hahaha...

The more I chase her away from the kitchen, the more she wants to be there... I give up and accept it as her way to show me her interest in cooking.

One day, I called upon her and made her help me cook spaghetti. Cooking spaghetti is easy, so I don't mind with a little discturbance.. hihi. I put the apron on her and she smiled from ear to ear... I didn't want any sauce on her clothes, so I took it off first to be at the safe side.. hehe..

We haven't started cooking, but she was already too eager to stir the pot.. hahaha! This is my 1st time allowing her in, and it was such a challenge. But I managed to cook a decent meal of spaghetti bolognaise with her help.. Cooking was fun and I bet it's a great experience for her.

Our second cooking experience together was when Aleesya and I made triffle for our family's hi-tea gathering at Ah Poh's.. I gave her the chance to layer on the cocktail fruits on top of the custard. Notice the chef's hat? I got that specially for her from a bakery supplies store.. It's so cute!

She pass with flying colours.. So, what's next? Let's cook rendang, I really need someone to stir and stir.. hahaha

Playdate : Kidz Paradise, Mines

Earlier this year, we had a playdate with CT and her daughter, Mia at Kidz Paradise. CT also blogged about it here. This playdate started sometime in 2010 and it's something we try to have annually. Our kids love it and we mommies get to catch up on gossips.. hihi..

Anyway, we initially wanted to go to Critterland, but decided to try this new place instead. It has just operated for a month at that time.. It is located at Level 4, Mines Shopping Centre, Seri Kembangan. We both took leave from work on that day, so it was not crowded and we got the place to ourselves.. :)

Weekday fee was RM25 per child for unlimited play time, and both Mommie and kid must be wearing socks at all times. Before we started to explore the place, we were told to sanitized our hands with the provided hand sanitizer.. Wahhh, so hygienic wan, I like!

One unique attraction here is the sand pit but they replaced it with brown herbal grains. Both Mia and Aleesya played most of the time there... They also have slides and obstacles, balls, mini vehicles, moving floaties and a mini trampoline..

Playdates are great as it helps the children build relationship and develop social skills.  To date, Aleesya and Mia has 3 actual playdates and they seem to have fun with each other. The only problem is they both have sharing issues... That's pretty normal right?

I prefer having playdates at indoor playground like this because it is much safer and hygienic and convenient for us mothers. We don't need to clean up the mess after that! At Kidz Paradise, they also provide a baby room which includes 2 kiddie beds for diaper changing/nap and also hot water facilities. Kudos to the management for being so understanding!

We were there for 3 hours and obviously the kids had fun! Aleesya has been bugging me to bring her here again...

Bubble Fun

Normally on Friday nights, Aleesya and I would already have something planned for the weekend. We called it our weekend activity... Last weekend, she told me that she wanted to play with BUBBLES... she had so much fun playing it during her birthday and couldn't get enough of it.. So, we got her another bubble blowing set with a refill this time.. 

On Sunday, after running some errands, Hubby brought us to Bukit Jalil to get a new badminton racket. I decided there and then that we would play with the bubbles there, thinking there's a nice park in Bukit Jalil.. But, when we arrived there it suddenly rained cats and dogs, so we had to play indoors at the sports complex... (huhu.. so much for my plan to have a mini picnic and blow bubbles at the park)

I think Aleesya didn't mind one bit.. She was busy blowing bubbles and admiring the bubbles floating in the air... :) And because of the rain, the wind was too windy and blowed the bubbles away so quickly. She was quite frustrated at first.. But then I explained to her that the bubbles are light, and that is why the bubbles are easily been blowed by the wind... I am not sure if she understands what I mean, Mommie is not good at explaining physics theory and such, but what the heck... I try to explain the best I could..

Doing Revision

Aleesya has started kindy this year and I am impressed with her achievement so far... Hubby and I  try very hard to do some revision during the night... (it's not that we don't trust her teachers, but we just love to be a part of her learning experience) We would ask Aleesya what she learnt in school that day and she'll be more than happy to give us an in sight... It's a great way to know your kids' progress in school.. But, it all depends on her mood too! If she's not in a good mood, we'll spare her and just watch TV together.. Don't wanna force her, we don't want drama.. :)

Anyway, this is her doing some phonics reading the other day... She's pretty good at it but sometimes she would just pronounce as she like and make fun of the sounds... hahha!

 

 

She was surprised when we pronounced CA-CA for CACA... She asked, "Eh, Mommie.. Kenapa ada nama Chacha?" (FYI, her nickname is Chacha).. Hahaha..

Drawing Mommie

I was doing some housekeeping in our store room and found this stationery set.. It's a pretty cool set consist of colour pencils, a pencil, magic colours, crayons, coloured pens, scissors, glue, a ruler and an eraser.. Complete! It was a gift from a dear friend for Aleesya's 1st birthday party. I must have kept it in a box when we moved here, almost 3 years ago.. wahhh, that long! Aleesya was excited with the discvovery and went straight on colouring and drawing.

This is what she drew... It's Mommie (with the big bump) and Aleesya.. hahaha.

Syringe Painting

One of Aleesya's favourite hobby is definitely PAINTING. She has been exposed to this activity at a very early age but she never gets bored of it! Normally, we would have finger painting or sponge painting at home. But his time around, I wanted to introduce Aleesya to a new approach.. Syringe Painting!

We used syringe the clinic normally provides for medication and safe for kids paints. For this activity, the paint has to be mixed with water for that watery effect - so that the syringe can suck the paint in and squirt it out. WARNING! This activity could be a bit messy from all the squirts.. At first Aleesya couldn't handle the syringe well and would squirt paint all over the playroom.. But, after showing her the right way and she tried by herself a few times, she got the hang of it...

Writing Practise Using Old Organisers

More writing practise means more workbooks.. Aleesya has done all her workbooks at home and she kept asking for more.. I was cleaning my room and was about to get rid of my old organizers when I thought of using them as Aleesya's writing practise books. The organizer already have boxes on the calender is great for her to practise her handwriting.. (refer to this post).

 

This time, we used a different medium : magic color for writing practise. She seems to have so much fun writing.. She doesn't even know that she's using a recycled material! There u go, no need for expensive workbooks, old organizers works the same.. hihi. (cheapskate Mommie) 

 

 

 

 

Crooked Handwriting

Aleesya loves to practise writing, but her handwriting is very crooked - Ahem, just like me when I was young. I remember my Standard 1 teacher made me write the word "API" over and over again in full 2 pages just because my writing was so senget. After that so-called punishment, I tried my best to improve my handwriting (fearing more punishment)

 

Anyway, I decided to try the same method on Aleesya. I made it more fun though by using the chalkboard. I drew 6 column boxes and told her to write the letter "A" in the boxes. We practised a few times till her writing was not so crooked and then moved to the other letters on the alphabet.