Friday, March 14, 2008
Good and Bad Day
14-MAR-2008:
Dominic is almost 2 years and 3 months old now. He is changing constantly and yet so subtlly that most of the time I did not realize that he has changed until it was rather obvious. And then, he has changed so tremendously that I can hardly recall how he has grown over the past few months.
Dominic's typical day starts with mummy waking him up at 7:30 in the morning and giving him his bottle. Yes, he's still using the bottle - that is one thing that hasn't changed. I do not know how to stop that. When he drinks with his bottle, he finishes the whole thing. When he drinks in a cup, he "plays" with the milk. I want him to drink milk, so I gave in to the bottle. On a good day, he would just take the bottle and drink it while I got dressed. On a bad day, he would complain that the milk was too hot or too cold, or he wanted to drink it on the couch or on the floor or on mummy's bed.
After his milk, I would sit him on the toilet and give him a book. On a good day, he would read the book on his own and do his poop while I applied make-up. On a bad day, he would insist that I read to him. Regardless, he would always poop in the morning. Sometimes, he would ask to go "ng-ng" as soon as he woke up. After he had done his poop, I would then clean him up, he would ask for a tissue to wipe his own buttocks and insist to flush the toilet himself.
After that, I would brush his teeth. Regardless of whether it was a good or bad day, he would always refuse to have his teeth brushed. On a better day, he would give in after a bit of coaxing. On a bad day, it could only be done when his mouth was wide open crying.
I would then wash his back-side and dress him up. On a good day, he would let me dress him up in anything. On a bad day, he would insist that he didn't like this shirt or those pants. After that he would be all ready for daddy to take him to the nursery. On a good day, he would put on his shoes himself. He can now put on his shoes on his own. He can't yet tell the right shoe from the left but if we tell him that he has put on his shoes the wrong side, he will kick them off and put them on again the correct sides.
I would leave for work after that and daddy would handle whatever necessary to get him to the nursery. I would pick him up in the evening and regardless of whether it was a good or bad day, he would be delighted to see me - running towards me with arms wide open and a big grin on his face. Then, it was time to get him home. On a good day, he would put on his jacket and sit on his pushchair. On a not-so-bad day, he would say he didn't want the hat or the scarf. On a bad day, he would say he didn't want the jacket - which was an impossibility to me in this cold weather. On a really, really bad day, he would leave the nursery crying to tear his jacket off - but this doesn't happen very often.
When we got home, I would start to prepare dinner. On a very, very good day, he would play on his own - but this very rarely happens, it's only my wishful thinking. On a normal day, he would help me prepare dinner. On a bad day, he would cook up his own dinner by removing all the pots and pans from the kitchen cupboard and making a mess of the place.
At dinner time, he would always feed himself. On a good day, he would finish everything very quickly, I would praise him, he would ask for a sweet as a reward, I would give him one sweet and then he would eat his after-dinner fruits. On a bad day, he would refuse to eat, and I would find ways to get him to eat. Sometimes he would eventually finish his dinner anyway. Sometimes, he would eat only half of it.
Bathtime would always be pleasant. He would always complain that the water was hot and I would tell him that it was warm. Getting dressed for bedtime - he would insist on not wearing this shirt or those pants on a bad day. Otherwise, all would be well.
He would then have his milk and then off to brush his teeth. Brushing his teeth, as usual, is my least favourite task of the day. On a good day, daddy would do it for him. On a bad day, daddy would say he could skip brushing his teeth for one day and I would disagree and would have to do it myself.
After that it would be bedtime stories. Good or bad day, it would always be Dominic's favourite time of the day. We would read for about 20 minutes and Dominic would go to bed hugging one of his books. Dominic doesn't need his bolster for bedtime now. I'm not sure when that started to happen but he now takes naps at the nursery without his bolster and at night, he hugs a book to sleep instead.
