With the coming of December 12, I welcomed the 22th monthiversary of Zal! 🙂
Sometimes (ok, most of the times) I can’t believe that once a baby of mine is now a toddler. He’s just two months shy from 2 years old, and he’s already showing signs of wanting to have his own independence.
Starts showing his tantrum
Once he wants to have something, he MUST have it. Now he’s throwing anything and punching me/his Papa if we don’t grant his wish, and it’s often me who timed-out him. I guess I am really becoming a tiger mom in this parenting thing.
When I time-out him, I would make my voice sounds deeper and with more tone. I am trying to send signal to him that his behaviour is not good. Well, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. If he’s too upset, he will ignore me and continue throwing tantrum. If he’s already like that, we will ignore him as well. Most of the times, it ends up with him sobbing and putting his face onto my lap, followed by nursing request after that.
We have been trying to teach him to control his tantrum, but it has been a rocky journey. We don’t tell him to suppress his anger, but to control it. It’s ok to be angry, it’s just not ok to throw things and punch people.
Potty training starts!
His mbak has been training him to tell us if he wants to poop or pee. Again, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. One time, he only said ‘Pee’ when he already peed and wet his pants, haha.
More and more food!
As his nursing journey is coming to an end (SOBS), he starts taking less and less EBM during the day (and my supply is diminishing greatly, anyway). The side impact is, of course, he’s eating more and more. Currently, he’s having bread and banana oatmeal for breakfast, three times of EBM, 2-3 times of main meal, and a lot of oranges plus water.
And he’s a HUGE fan of orange! He can eat 5-6 medium oranges during the day sometimes it’s scary.
Know alphabets, numbers, and some words
I swear I am not pushing him to learn earlier.
Zal is still not progressing a lot on his speech; he prefers to point on things that he want. He is already able to say some things though, but we still need to encourage him.
- Nam-nam – makan – eat
- Num-num – minum – drink; for water
- Nenen – nurse
- Susu – milk; refers to his EBM since he’s still on full breastmilk.
- Zeruk/Gung gung – orange
- Jan – hujan – rain
- Jo – ijo – green; refers to green light.
- Bus
- Car
- Bum bum – his stroller
- Head
- Chin – but he points at his chest instead
- Nose
- Mouth
- Leg
- Arm
And on top of that, he already recognizes alphabets and numbers. I bought him a flashcard few months ago to play with him. And he loves it. He knows full alphabets now. As for numbers, he has been learning them from nursery songs that he love. Now, whenever we go out and saw some big signs, Zal will spell them.
Imitates shalat and praying movements
I saved the best for last :’)
Nothing tears me up as much as seeing my little boy taking prayer mat whenever he sees either me or his Papa doing shalat. He will follow our movements, albeit not perfect. And once we’re done, he will follow us praying and closing it with his ‘Min~’ (short for ‘ameen’).
After that, he will take our hands and halfway kiss them, and ‘sayang’ (kiss) us.
Even typing this brings tears to my eyes.
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I start to understand my parents’ emotion whenever they see us accomplish somethings. They are happy to see us succeed in something, but it also feels bittersweet for them cause it means we’re one step further to reach our independence and less dependent on them.
When you’re a parent, having your kids relying on you is the best feeling. Cherish them before they’re letting your hands go.
