Monday, June 23, 2008
Dominic at 2 Years and 6 Months Old
23-JUNE-2008:
Yesterday, Dominic officially turned 2 and a half years old, which is a significant milestone because certain nurseries charge a different fee after this age.
It's been a week since Dominic started at the new nursery and he's still crying every morning although I can see that he's gradually improving, for example on the first day, he cried while clinging to my legs when I left, on the 2nd day, he cried but held the "teacher's" hand and on the 3rd day, he stopped crying before I left the premise. Well, actually he had only attended for 3 days since he stays home on Thursdays, so there you have it.
He came back with quite some new words after those 3 days, for example, he told me that what we normally call "diapers" are actually "nappies" (for some reason the Brits call them nappies instead). On Saturday, we caught him saying "perfect" everytime he built a block using his Lego. Over the weekend, I also noticed that he now likes to use the phrase "wait for me!". I was told that he absolutely enjoyed the day at the nursery but he just cried every morning. To encourage him to like "school", last night, I narrated the typical day's morning to him. I said:
Me: Tomorrow morning, mummy is going to wake you up and Dominic is going to tell mummy to "chung nan-nan". After your nan-nan, mummy is going to brush your teeth and wash your buttocks. Then Dominic is going to put on your shirt, pants, socks and shoes.
Dominic: Catch the bus!
Me: Yes, we're going to catch the bus and mummy will bring you to school. There are so many things to do at school - you play with the rabbit, you drive the car and what else?
Dominic: Painting?
Me: Yes, what else?
Dominic: Hamish? (Hamish is the name of the rabbit)
By now, he was beginning to feel excited.
Dominic: Nice school!
Me: Yes, school is nice. Mummy will stay there with you for a while and then mummy will go to work.
Dominic: Do[mi]nic cry! (Do-nic is the short form he gave to his own name)
I couldn't help but laughed out loud. Crying in the morning has, to him, become a part of the morning's routine.
Apart from the crying, the experience had been a good one. He is eating lunch that the nursery provides - which means (I hope) that he's eating a more varied diet than just mummy's cooking. Despite waking up earlier in the morning, he's less cranky in the evening and sleeps better at night. He has also learnt to take off his pants and climb on the chair to pee on his own (we put a plastic Ikea chair next to the toilet bowl for him to stand on). Twice when I tried to help him, he told me to go away. After that, he managed to pull his pants back on too - provided that the pants are still around both his feet.
At 2 years and 6 months old, Dominic's most spoken word is "mummy" (without a doubt) and the runner-up is "don't want". I dun want brush teeth. I dun want take shower. I dun want go school. Dun want dinner. Dun want chicken. Dun want vege. Dun want go home. Dun want take nap. Dun want wear shirt. Sometimes, he even uses "dun want" for words that he can't understand. For example, I told him to get dressed and he insisted that he "dun want get dressed", although he really had no idea what "get dressed" meant, but he was okay with "putting on his shirt".
At 2 years and 6 months old, Dominic's height is still below 90cm (but getting close). He's able to switch on the lights now, but not tall enough to switch them off! He weighs 12.5kg.
That's it about Dominic, but here's a parenting tip that I would like to share with all mums and dads out there. Recently, I've found that Dominic is more co-operative after I've started to "talk more". Basically, I keep running a live commentary on what we're doing and we're going to do next. For example, when I'm preparing dinner, I would tell him what I'm cooking and that in 10 minutes time, dinner will be ready and we'll eat together. I would tell him that his Pooh bear show is ending soon and after that we're going to take a shower. I would tell him that he's getting out of the shower in a moment and after that he will drink his milk and brush his teeth. The technique has worked so well that we now find him reciting each step back to us - drink nan-nan, brush teeth, read book, go sleep. I find that by letting him know what he needs to do next makes him a much more co-operative child. :-)
