My funny boys..

Boy vs Girl

Mummy: If one day, mummy can't walk, will you help mummy? 

Koko: Yes, i'll help.
Mummy: Help mummy wash buttock, pom pom, carry mummy... (testing him as he is always feel 'dirty' on his own buttock)

Koko: Boy cannot see girl buttock. I can't help you to wash buttock.. (shock me with his answer)

Mummy: Har, then how? Everyday Mummy helps you, then you're not going to help mummy in future?

Koko: Hmm.. ok ok. I'll close my eyes and help you. (showing his action and close his eyes)

Taxi ride

Didi: Why Daddy not yet coming home?

Mummy: Daddy missed flight, has to stay in HongKong for one day.

Koko: Why Daddy didn't take taxi?  (Dad always go to airport with cab)

Mummy: HongKong is very far. Cannot reach and no taxi will bring Daddy. 

Koko: If take taxi, one day already can reach home. No need to stay there. 

Hong Kong story

Mummy: Do you want to go Hong Kong? There is Disneyland, see mickey mouse..

Didi: I want, I want.

Koko: Hong Kong got Kaiju one. Very scary one. (Pacific Rim - the influence)

Didi: Ooh.. But Daddy is in HongKong. Got Kaiju or not? 

Koko: Wow, Daddy can see the robot fighting. I want to go Hong Kong to see Kaiju.

Funny Koko

The conversation between Hubby and Koko in the car on last Sunday while we were driving towards a beach in Langkawi.
Hubby: It'll be very syiok to go to beach.
Koko: (Shouting happily) Syiok, very syiok. 
Koko: What is 'syiok' Daddy?
Hubby: HAR??
Mummy: Hahaahha...

Last night, while we went for dinner. Koko and Didi are best friend today.While holding Didi's hand, Koko kept on reminding Didi: "Don't be naughty or I'll not sayang you anymore." His stern look was so funny.

While in Daddy's car.
Koko: Mummy, you cannot drive Daddy's car.
Mummy: Why?
Koko: Because it is a new car.
Mummy: Why Mummy cannot drive new car?
Koko: Mummy can only drive old car. 
Mummy: :( sob sob..

Busy Mummy in the kitchen.
Koko: Mummy, please help me to 'pom pom' (take both)?
Mummy: Please wait. Mummy only has 1 hand. Can do 1 thing at a time.
Koko: No, not right. 
Mummy: What it is not right? Please wait.
Koko: You have 2 hands. Not 1 hand. You said 1 hand. 1 hand cannot hold things. 
Mummy: Oh ya... 2 hands..

Bedtime story.
Koko: Can koala bear climb trees?
Mummy: Yes.
Koko: Can zebra climb trees?
Mummy: No, zebra cannot.
Koko: Why zebra cannot climb tree?
Mummy: Zebra is too heavy. It cannot climb the tree. The leg does not has the claw to climb.  
Koko: What other animals can climb trees?
Mummy: Monkey, chimpanzee, cat, lion.. hmmm..maybe lion can climb too.
Koko: No, no. Lion cannot climb tree. 
Koko: Lion is too heavy. Only leopard can climb tree. 

The 'WHY' question

Did you ever feel tired of answering 'WHY' question?

'Why the lion just bite on the 'piku'?', 'Why there is blood?',  'Why the lion is standing there?',...it goes on and on...

Why the lion hasn't come out yet?  'Why it hide behind the bushes?' 

The series of the story books

Koko will ask on every single items on the books. On his favorite page, it'll take at least 5minute for me to finish reading.Luckily the book has a good quality (logical) picture that makes me easy to explain. After you tell him the answer, he will ask you again 'Why?'.


Curiosity time...

It's glad that Koko loves the series of the book. He even asked 'Why you didn't buy the shark one?'. He just want to have all of them.

When I asked him the 'Why' question, Koko will always start his answer with 'because....'
Sometimes, he just can't find a reason and just stuck with 'because, because...'

These two is Didi's favaorite. He will fight to get them whenever we starts the reading session before bedtime.

Persuasion & Influence

I just completed this training 2 days ago. The first question that I popped up to the instructor was 'Can I implement the tactics and skills on kids?'. The answer was 'Of course.' This keep me alive on the class and found it was so truth. One of the concept called expressive influence. It contains 4 parts - Tell, Sell, Negotiate and Enlist.

Part 1: Tell - express your needs. We always assume and yes, we need to assume especially for baby. Baby cries to express his/her needs. And he/she knows that by doing so, he/she will get your attention.

Part 2: Sell - give reasoning. This is the best part. Last week, during one of Koko colouring session at home, I told him to colour all the pictures, but then he just stop on the last picture and start packing up his book. So, I asked ' Why you didn't finish the colouring?' 'I can't colour anymore BECAUSE my hand is painful.' Koko stressed on the word 'because'. Now, Koko is very smart to give reasoning and always will purposely stress on the word 'because'. My question to the instructor was how i can counter back? Instead of them influencing me, how I can influence back. This is no easy.

Part 3: Negotiate- give incentive. I'm very good at this skill towards Koko and Didi. Koko buy in to that every time. Every morning to get Koko to wake up, I got to make promises. 'Mummy will buy cake for you later.' 'Do you want to have new toys?' 'Do you want your swimming costume' I got to make sure I find something that Koko likes then only he'll get up from his bed and feel excited about it. However, this skill will never get to Didi. You just can't bride Didi. No matter what he loves, he'll not do things on your way. He is the guy 'My way only.'

Part 4: Enlist - encourage/envision. This tactic work well with both Koko and Didi. Whenever, both of them are having lunch/dinner, Daddy will encourage them. 'Wow, big mouth. Very good boy'. If you spoke to Didi, and Koko heard it, he will do the same thing and prove to you, he is a good boy too. So does Didi.

We have been practicing the skills everyday, either you notice it or you don't. This is a very important skill to be mastered by everyone.

A few good quotes:-
'Pause to reflect. Take 1 step backward to move 3 steps forward.'
'People may be persuaded by reason but they are moved by emotion.'
'With great power came great responsibilities.'
'What you do before you do, that's matter.'

Lastly, the best learning - using the word 'will' instead of 'can'. I always asked Koko 'Can you please listen?' It just doesn't work with him. Then last night, I asked him ' Will you please listen?' Guess what, Koko just smile and look at me, instead of his usual way of throwing tantrum.

22months old..

Didi is 22 months old today. What a great milestone to achieve. 2 more months to go for 2 years old. Time really  flies. Fast and not waiting for you to realize about it. Today seems to be slow, but when recall on yesterday, it was fast over.

So, what has Didi been achieving so far? For a 22months old baby, I'm very glad with Didi's progress. He has been picking up a lot of new words. 'On light', 'on light' was his word last night when I forced him to sleep at 9pm. Then this morning, I have to force him to wake up and he has been shouting 'avatar', 'avatar' as he didn't wanna get into the car. Didi can repeat words with a very good pronunciation. 'Rabbit', 'parrot', 'panda', etc..

His favorite word for his book is 'fly'. He means the butterfly. Somehow, he just doesn't wanna pronounce the word 'butterfly'. On the fruit list, Didi can say 'papaya', 'nana'- for banana, 'nut-nut'- for coconut (why nut nut? I was wondering too, wouldn't it suppose to be coco).

The thing that he will ask everyday. ' Heart-shape'. When I told him to get his vitamin, he knows that I'm referring to his heart-shape.

You may feel it is tough to catch what Didi is trying to say. For mummy, it's never a problem. That's the beauty to have your kids on your side everyday. You watch them to grow up, changing on phases, playing different games and new actions everyday.

Koko has reached the next stage

Now, Koko can ask about details and give you reasoning of his action.

On one of the night, before going to bed, Koko surprises me again with his reasoning,

Koko: Mummy cannot sleep with Daddy.

Mummy: Why? 

Koko: We'll cry later.

Mummy: Who?

Koko: Didi and ZZ. Mummy sleeps with ZZ, ok?

Another special thing about Koko. He will know what Didi wants.
'Didi want to drink water.' 'Didi said he doesn't want to eat'. 'Didi said want to watch TV.'
Koko can speak on behalf of Didi. 

Koko is smart on recognizing the road to places that we went. One of the day, he wanted to eat chicken rice + egg (his most favorite food)  for dinner. We were heading to BM town that moment. He kept on insisting there was no chicken rice there and kept on crying in the car. Chicken rice is at KM town and he knew we were heading to the different direction. He only settled down when I told him to get his 'lak lak' (spicy) rice instead of chicken rice.

The questions of  'what' and 'where' always pop up from Koko.
"what are you doing?", 'where did you go?'
When he is watching the TV, there are a lot of question from him. 'where is avatar?' 'where is the robot?' 'where is the frog?' For Didi is simple 'avatar le?' 'frog le?'
Whatever Koko asked, will be repeated again if heard by Didi.

Sound of music...

Didi is catching fast on words and sound. I said 'tom tom', he will say 'tom tom'. Then I said 'tim tum', he will follow 'tim tum'. 'Ding dong', Didi will be able to follow as well. As long as Didi is having the mood, he'll follow what I asked him to say.

Now, Didi has know his right and demand. He will say 'Mai' and shook his head when he doesn't want to eat or watch the movie. On the things that he wants, he will nod his head but never utter the word 'Ai'. Both Koko and Didi is clever with the word 'Mai'. On the movie program, if you have something on which is not Didi's favorite, he'll demand you to change. He will find his DVD and asked you to on it. Once the Kungfu Panda is on screen, he will look at you and smile. He will sit on his chair and watch for the next 10minutes.

When Koko didn't wanna share the toys with Didi or grab away from Didi, Didi knows his right. He will scream in his high pitch tone. It's not loud, but very high pitch. He will come to Daddy or Mummy to tell us that Koko has taken his things away. If Koko and Didi are playing together - pinching, gripping, pushing, catching,.. usually Koko is the one end up crying. Didi is a tough guy, and he will fight till the end to get his right.

This is the sound of music at home for us.

New words from Didi

Didi found this book 2 nights ago. He found it placing at the rack outside of our room. He has been reading it since then. He points, I read. We read many times as there is only 3 pages. Last night, suddenly Didi opened the book and said ‘Onion’. He pointed to the right picture as well. Why onion? Guess the picture attracted him the most.

There is another favorite from Didi recently. Berry, berry. I couldn’t catch it at first until he pointed it to me. Strawberry. My smart little baby. 

Nana nana..

This is the most frequent word from Didi. Whenever he saw the fruit stall, he will start mumbling on these words. Nana nana. This morning, when we were at the market, Didi mentioned the same words when he saw the banana. So, I thought probably I should just buy a bunch of banana for him. He must has love to eat them. Once at home, he still kept on mumbling on the words nana, nana. Although we just have our breakfast, Didi has always want to has food almost all the time. I peeled the banana for him, thinking happily he'll just take it. No, he didnt. He just shakes his head. Sometimes, boy oh boy. You just never really know what they want. Guessing is the game. Sometimes you got it right, sometimes you don't.

The little words..

"Susannnn, where are you?" shouted by Koko last 2 days when he was looking for me. Guess where does this phrase come from? Alien vs monsters. He was watching the movie a day before. Surprise to me that suddenly he just called out the phrase. The vocabulary and words that Koko learns and speaks out, could just give a big surprise. Last night, hubby and I went for Hep A jab. Koko was in the clinic. 'Mummy, don't cry ya." Koko said when we entered the room. When the doctor was injecting me, "Painful or not? A bit only." His eyes were staring at the needle while I were looking away from it. He did the same thing when it's Hubby turn. Koko learns very fast. He will surprise you when he said the things that you told him before suddenly. Smiles always in my face when I heard it. He soundly mature. Influence... movie, parent..

As for Didi, he has been uttering the words 'Ye Ye' every time now. Before he went to sleep, once he woke up, in the car, watching TV. Everywhere. I have to keep on reminding him that Ye Ye has gone home. Ye Ye, Nai Nai, Ku Ku and "Lau Suk" visited 2 weeks ago. Since they have gone home, Didi has been kept on asking for "Ye Ye". Didi managed to get the words faster than Koko comparing them on the same age. Didi can call "Mummy" and "Daddy" very clear when he started to call us. Instead, Koko was only able to call "Mimi" and "Dada". Another surprise is I just know that Didi called his nanny as "Ma ma". He has been uttering the words, and I always thought that is for Mummy. Now I know, he meant his nanny. Some other first words from Didi  - moon, star, bear (for bird), dog, rabbit, Nai Nai, heart shape (the vitamin C). These are some of them that I can remember now.