Goodbye Diapers Experiment

Last week, on the 25th of January, I took Noah to the zoo. There we met a little boy and his mom and we ended up spending the better part of the day with them. The little boy, Alex, is a few months older than Noah and no longer has nighttime diapers. On the way home from the zoo, I told Noah that when he was ready, we could say goodbye diapers just like his friend Alex. Noah thought it through and then turned to me and very seriously stated "je suis pret" (I am ready). When we got home, he repeated his statement and wanted to get right to it. I had to plead with him to wait till Daddy came home. When Daddy came home, he barely said hello and straight away explained that he was ready for goodbye diapers. What do you do in the face of such determination? You let him say goodbye diapers.

So we gave Noah a plastic bag and he put all the loose diapers in it.

And then carried he the diapers to the trash area (I then hid them in my closet just in case this experiment did not work too well).

The good news is that after months of having trouble pooping in the toilet (it happened but was often a bit of a struggle), he no longer asks for a diaper to poop and goes to the toilet without a fuss. Sometimes it works on the first try, sometimes it requires a few tries but we are there.

The bad news is that he and his protective bed sheet are wet every morning. The first few mornings he did not even wake up before his rabbit and did not even seem to have noticed he was wet. This morning he woke up 20mn before and called out that he was wet. I asked him if he thought we should bring back the night diaper and he exclaimed very adamantly "no, no diapers". The experiment lives on - for now. Tonight we will spot check to see if he gets wet early in the night or in the morning. To be continued...

Happy Year of the Dragon

In Singapore, Chinese New Year is probably the biggest holiday of the year. Stores close, people spend time with family and the streets are comparatively empty. Even Noah's school was closed Monday-Thursday in celebration.

To celebrate, Noah went to Chinatown with his school on the Thursday (the 19th I think) before the holiday and on Friday they had a party at school where the kids were to dress up and bring some food (it seems people eat/give many oranges for New Year but also Kueh Lapis a type of layered cake and pineapple tarts which are really good). Anyway, here is Noah dressed up for Chinese New Year (the outfit given to us by a friend actually had a dragon on it...)

Noah was very excited about the outfit and all the food he got to eat at school in celebration of the New Year.

Our condo also had a New Year's celebration with balloons and dancing dragons and of course... food - here is Noah eating the Singaporean Chinese new year's specialty - a noodle dish with all kinds of funky things in it that is a bit sweet and crunchy.

At home, we did a Happy Dragon Year window project (Noah colored the dragons and chose and attached the ribbons and helped make the good luck and prosperity oranges and characters).

Happy Dragon Year everyone may it bring you strength, boldness, color and warmth!

Two-And-a-Half Years Old: A Portrait

Noah just recently turned 2.5 years old. It has been a while since we posted a what Noah can do/dislikes/likes/is like post. In part that is because we post major milestones as they show up but also because progress seems well more progressive. You don't really notice anything for a while and then suddenly realize he is playing completely independently in the playground, or is making complex grammatically correct intelligible sentences (the other morning he told me: "je veux rester ici pour finir mon caca" "I want to stay here so I can finish my caca" - he was taking advantage of his night diaper...). Independence and language I would say are the two biggest changes over the past six months. But here goes... progress we have noted in the last six months.

Noah CAN (Physical abilities in no particular order):

• Climb ladders, nets, and kiddie climbing walls  and  go down slides (even the steep tunnel ones) on his own;
• Concentrate on a task for a long period of time (for example, he will spend quite a while focusing on his letters and reading - asking for more when I inquire if he has had enough);
• Dress and undress himself (though he often still wants help to speed the process up and is not entirely efficient when removing his T-shirt sometimes getting lost in there);
• Play independently in a playground (climb around and entertain himself);
• Go to the potty on his own (take his clothes off, pee and put them back on though he still often likes me to watch him and/or help);
• Whine copiously when he is not happy with a situation;
• Wear underwear without accidents (he has not worn diapers for the last four months during the day except for occasional poops which he will now do in the toilet with some regularity - as to pee, he prefers to pee standing up outside in the bushes or in Chinese style squat toilets but at home he will pee sitting down either in his pot or on the toilet);
• Draw a circle, a cross, a straight line and an approximation of a boat, a snowman, a sun and a cloud!
• Blow bubbles in the water, glide underwater (as long as I am there to catch him on the other side), kick kick kick, jump into the water (when asked to);
• Play independently for a little while with his trains, his cars, his cards or other games;
• Throw a convincing crying fit for a peccadillo and stop it on command (he is usually pretty rational and will stop his crying when I tell him to first listen to me and then if he thinks crying is the best solution, keep crying);
• Jump up and down, jump forwards, jump off of coffee tables and other objects;
• Stand on one foot for 7 seconds (on either the left or the right foot);
• Ride a tricycle (I just found out about this ability the other day when he grabbed one of the school tricycles and started peddling around as we were heading home);
• Ride his scooter (he has gotten pretty good with the breaks now though on the steep hill by our building, he still likes the reassurance of having me next to him); and
• Ride his 2 wheel balance bike (he can "ride" around well and steer it and has let go and balanced for a few secs at a time).

 

A climbing Noah

Noah CAN ALSO (other abilities in no particular order):

• Sing the ABC song in English, French and... Spanish (he has a singing table that has a Spanish option and, of course, that's his favorite so he listens to the Spanish alphabet a lot and seems to have learned it!);
• Recognize and identify in English and French all the big (capital) and little (lower case) letters and read simple words like Papa, Mama, Dada, dodo, bobo, Lola, Papy, Noah (see the Lots of Letters post for more on reading), and more recently, moto, pipe, gigi;
• Make friends and meet people easily (he is pretty sociable and generally is not shy - just yesterday I heard him say "hello, my name is Noah" with a big smile to a woman at the playground he had never met before - he also tends to go towards younger kids and try to help them up the stairs or help them walk or slide - it's very cute and he is soooo gentle with them as long as they are willing to be helped if not... well he is still gentle but perhaps a bit more insitant than they would like);
• Be a very cheeky little monkey (Noah, don't touch that, it's dirty, Noah touches it with one finger with a silly grin on his face);
• Identify his left hand and his right hand in French (his left arm has some freckles on it and he has learned that in case of doubt, check for freckles);
• Recognize and name 11 colors in French (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, pink, black, white, brown and grey) and 7 colors in English (black, white, brown and grey do not seem to have made it fully in English yet);
• Play and get excited about interactive games (like memory, orchard, simple card games, dominoes, bingo and just recently tic-tac-toe);
• Name at least 15 of his friends as well as recognize and identify (from pictures) his grandparents and aunts and uncles (and a 15 year old maman);
• Say please and thank you without prompting (with some exceptions of course);
• Translate from English to French and French to English (if I ask him in French - go ask Daddy for the book - he will go to Daddy and quite naturally translate my sentence into English for Daddy - same the opposite way. Also, if he says a word we don't really understand in one language, we ask him to say it in the other and he will translate it - or if we point to a picture and ask how would maman say this word, how would daddy say it - he will do that too);
• Recite 0-20 in French (though he sometimes skips 16) and 0-12 in English; count 10 objects (though sometimes he needs help not counting the same object twice and he can go farther if I point to the objects and he says the numbers); do simple additions in the context of his fingers (ex one finger and one finger are two fingers, two fingers and two fingers are four fingers, five fingers and five fingers are ten fingers); do simple subtractions when applied to subway stops (there are four subway stops and we have done one, how many more stops are there?)
• Put his Daddy or Maman to bed with stories, kisses, rabbit and all;
• Speak in full grammatical sentences (though he regularly "chooses" to take some liberty with grammar, he still has a problem with masculine/feminine in French - he uses "mon" instead of "ma" like "mon chaise" instead of "ma chaise" - I wonder if that is because he only hears me, a woman, speaking French and assumes that for him it should be masculine - also, he has made much progress with his diction but some of his words are still garbled - in particular, he has trouble with the "f", "l" and "r" sounds);
• Get strangers to give him food (because he looks so under-nourished right??? He really has the technique down - hover, smile, comment on the food, and sometimes even ask nicely but most of the time that last step is not even necessary!); 
• Spell out his full name in English and French (N-O-A-H  G-I-L...);
• Remember promises of food, activities or toys (Noah almost never forgets a promise for a future item and will remind me when the appropriate time comes that he should get his orange or car or that I promised to play cherries with him - even the next day);
• State his address and where he lives (5... ... in front of the Tiong Bahru MRT); and
• Sing many many songs in English and French (and a few in Chinese) (he will often break into song when walking or sliding or strollering or just hanging out). 

Noah standing on one foot 

Noah DISLIKES (also in no particular order):

• Drinking his milk in the wrong glass or getting the wrong milk (soy or cow or powder);
• Not having his gouter when he wakes up from his nap;
• Not getting his way  (for example, not getting to wear the clothes, shoes he wants to wear);
• When we open the doors and press the buttons in the elevator for him;
• When his friends are away on vacation;
• When we don't pay enough attention to him;
• Not being given the phone when his grandparents or aunts and uncles call; and
• Changing his diaper (which luckily does not happen very often).

Noah disliking the fact that we took his milk away because he was

 purposely spilling it all over the place and refusing to ask for it back nicely

Noah LIKES (in no particular order): 

• Daddy coming home at night;
• Figuring out how things work, especially doors and locks but also cameras and retractable pens (he will spend long periods of time trying to figure out how an unfamiliar lock or door works and take apart a pen and try to put it back together again (usually with little success));
• Trains and planes both toy ones and real ones (he loves watching planes take-off and land on youtube and playing with his toy trains...);
• Food ( he loves garlic and chickpeas and still likes spicy food though one of his favorite dishes these days is the Singapore national dish of chicken rice and of course he still loves fruit but he has also discovered chocolate which he would never turn down) and going to restaurants with Daddy and Maman (he is generally very well behaved at restaurants happily munching away at his spicy curries or japanese ginger);
• Cooking (both watching daddy cook and actively helping);
• Snowy the snowman (a recent present from Charmie, Snowy is now one of his favorite plush toys, Snowy now sleeps with and takes gouter with Noah and watches Noah drink his milk);
• His playdates and friends (when a friend is away on vacation he repeatedly asks for him/her and is all sad when I tell him they are away for now; he also gets very excited about his various playdates and asks about them);
• Wearing his uniform to school, his home comfy clothes at home and his normal clothes outside or when friends are over (though sometimes he is a bit reluctant to change out of his home clothes for visitors); 
• Petting and snuggling against Lhasa, telling Lhasa off when she is trying to munch on the plants;
• Drawing, painting and doing crafts;
• Playing "Bip" (a card matching game), "cherries" and "new cherries" (variations on the orchard  game with a dice and fruit to pick), bisous, dodo (another card game where you try to put a little girl/boy to bed and receive kisses, hugs, tickles... along the way), memory and dominoes;
• Going to Ya Kun Kaya for some egg and kaya toast on the weekend;
• Drawing letters on the iPad;
• Peeing while standing up either outside behind bushes or in the Chinese style squat toilets (very useful for that purpose);
• Watching his stories on Sunday mornings (GG and Grandpa gave Noah these scholastic dvds in which famous kids' books are read and animated);
• Pressing the button in the elevator;
• His bike and scooter (he even accepts to wear his helmet without much of a fuss anymore);
• His camera and taking pictures of everything and nothing, reviewing old pics/videos we took of him and going through our old picture albums and finding young mommy and daddy;
• Looking up places on his world map;
• Talking on the phone (his aptitude is not quite at the level of his excitement);
• Cuddling (especially when he wakes up from his nap);
• Letters (identifying letters, playing with letters (ex letter bingo, letter puzzles) and reading combinations of letters);
• Explaining things to people (if I tell him what we will be doing this afternoon, he will turn to Charmie or his Dad and explain to them (in English) what we the plans are or he will explain what he is currently doing or about to do to us but also sometimes to bystanders);
• Numbers (identifying numbers, counting items, "there are three crayons", "there are four cars"..., counting down stops in the subway, Maman: We started with five stops and have done one stop, how many stops are left. Noah: "four", learning his 20s, 30s, 40s... instead of picking the songs he wants to sing from the song book by flipping through the pages and choosing based on the drawings he recognizes, he chooses by looking  at the table of contents and picking out the page numbers thus slowly learning the higher numbers);
• His books and reading them with us (some of his favorites these days are the Emilie books, Fonce Petit Train, Chicka Chicka 1,2,3, and How do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight);
• Singing and "playing" the piano (yesterday he sat at our friends piano tapping out some notes while singing along happy birthday Mamie; his favorite songs to sing are, according to him, Bumblebee, London Bridge is falling down, Row Row Row Your Boat, Wheels on the Bus and Fait Dodo, Pirouette Cacahouette, Un Crocrodile, Promenons-nous dans les Bois);
• Listening to audio books while flipping though the pages of the book; and
• Jumping (on the floor, off of the coffee table or bed...).

Noah's January craft window for Chinese New Year (he colored 

the dragons and put the ribbons on and made the good luck oranges 

(with some help)

   

Overall, Noah is a lot of fun (especially when he is not whining or playing cheeky monkey!). He has his crazy active moments but is usually very poised and concentrated on whatever he is doing. He is cuddly and loving but also increasingly independent. He is curious about the world and interested in learning (curiously, though he keenly observes the world and tests it, he rarely asks why or what questions - perhaps because we jump the gun and explain away a lot). He is rapidly becoming a wonderful little chatterbox. He is often cautious at first (more so than some of his peers) but once he gains confidence he is intrepid (often more so than the same peers). He is gentle and (mostly) generous (even when it comes to sharing his favorite foods). He loves people and being around people. He is almost always on his best behavior when around others and seems to show real empathy when other children are hurt or sad. He is (in my very unbiased opinion!) an endearing little boy who is joyful and excited about life, his friends and his activities.

A joyous Noah

Two-And-a-Half Years Old: A Typical Day in the Life of Noah

Noah just recently turned two-and-a-half. As I was looking back, I realized that we have not described a typical day in the life of Noah in a while. That is partly because anytime something new or exciting happens, we post it. And partly because, since he started school, a typical day in the life of Noah has not changed in any big way but has progressively evolved. You don't really notice the difference till you look back. So here goes...

Noah gets up around 7:30-8:00 when his rabbit wakes up with a "maman, maman, lapin reveille" (mommy, mommy, rabbit awake) and waits in his big boy bed for me to come say good morning Noah and rabbit. He has a kid's alarm clock with a rabbit who "wakes up" ie lights up usually at 7:30. A great great invention.

He then drinks some milk (either cow or soy) in his Swiss cow mug (it has to be the right cup/mug) while we read a book or just cuddle.

We then change out of the night diaper (which more often than not, contains his morning poop) and pjs and put his underwear and school uniform on (beige shorts and a white polo - see below for pics in the uniform) and head off to school usually in the stroller but increasingly on foot or by scooter. As I drop him off, he runs in happily looking for his friends and favorite toys or if we are a bit later than usual, joining the singing circle.

He spends the next four hours in school, playing, drawing, learning, having fun and... eating (see last month's School Life Post for more details on school life). They have breakfast, a fruit snack and lunch during those four hours! He seems to like school and his teachers and friends. And is increasingly able to tell me what happens during those mysterious 4 hours. 

I pick him up around 12:30. Waiting at school is the parade of strollers.

And Noah's brand new N1 shoe cubby.

As I walk in, they call out Noah's name. He is usually at one of the common tables engrossed in some activity like building a tower or reading a book and it takes a few "Noahs" before he looks up and then eagerly runs over to me.  

On this particular day, he was very excited because he went by the school kitchen on his way out and was able to get the cook to give him some extra apple slices...

Sharing apple slices with his friend Elias outside school.

Rearranging the seating.

After playing for a bit just in front of school, we head downstairs, where we often stop to play "1,2,3 soleil" or "what time is it Mr Wolf" (variations on getting from one side of a room to the other where the counter or the wolf is standing) with Elias and his Aunty. After a brief (or not-so-brief) interlude, we head  home with Elias and his Aunty. On the way home, the kids stop over at the playground.

First things first, Noah makes sure the slide is dry, clean and not too hot (it can get broiling if the sun has been beating on it for too long). On this particular day, there were many little leaves on the slide so Noah brushed them away.

15, 16, 17, 18 GO!

Ok - now Elias's turn!

Bye Noaaaaah....

At 2pm Noah goes down for his nap with two stories and a kiss. He is usually up by 3pm. The immediate period after he wakes up from his nap is a crucial one as he is usually very touchy. Gouter has to be had just when he wakes up or major unhappiness ensues. In order to ease the wake-up process, we pick out his gouter, the type of milk, the cup and fruit, before the nap. Once he has had his gouter, he is usually back to his normal happy self.

After gouter, we read or play for a bit and then we go out for his afternoon playdate (Mondays with Kathryn, Tuesdays with Matthias and Jeanne, Wednesdays with Audrey, Thursdays with Daniel and Fridays with Lola). It is a good mix of girls and boys, older and younger kids, and French-speaking and English-speaking kids. What is funny to me is that he is a bit different with each of his friends. With Kathryn, he is usually calmer and more gentle, with Matthias and Jeanne more thoughtful, with Audrey, who is 7, more talkative, with Daniel he is more energetic and active and with Lola he is more big-brotherly (she is 10 months younger).

With a few of his friends, we do a weekly toy and book exchange which has been lots of fun. Each week, we bring 2-3 books and a game/toy for them to have for the week (and return last week's exchange books and game) and receive 2-3 books and a game/toy for the week. Noah has discovered some great toys/games and books that way.

Typical playdates include going to the nearby park which has a great train to climb around and slide down from and lots of sand to play in, going to an indoor play-gym, going to one of the many local HDB (Housing Development Board) playgrounds, going to a friend's house (or having friends over) for some playing, reading and/or crafts, going to a museum or going to the pool.

The day I took these pictures happened to be a Wednesday - playdate with Audrey. First some painting...

On paper and on face...

Then some playground fun. One, two, three...

... jump.

Ok, now Audrey's turn.

What's down there?

Caged animals...

Look....

It's tarzan!

Off they go back home.

On Wednesdays, Noah has his swim lesson with his buddies at our building's pool in the evening. Here he is ready to head out. Although it is generally warm here, sometimes the kids get cold in the evening in the pool, hence the thicker bathing suit. Noah is the youngest in the swimming class and was a bit apprehensive at first (sometimes clinging to me like a koala) but he now seems pretty comfortable jumping in and kicking and blowing bubbles and going underwater.

We generally get home anywhere between 6:30pm and 7:30pm from a playdate and around 8pm Seth comes home and we all have dinner together. We play with Noah for a bit either one of his many different card games (bip, bisous dodo) or other games ("cherries" or "other cherries") or whatever other game is on toy exchange. Or we read some books (looks like either they are reading upside-down here or the jacket was not in the right direction).

and then around 9pm we start the bedtime routine. We alternate who puts him to bed. The parent putting him to bed gives him his milk (these days in a normal cup), showers him, brushes his teeth, puts on the night diaper and pjs, reads him two stories and then lights out - big boy down and ready for another exciting day.

Joyeux Anniveraire Mamie!

Today, January 18th is Mamie's birthday. True to form - Noah drew his Mamie a birthday picture (a snowman and a boat according to Noah).

Snowy the snowman proudly posing with the picture he inspired. 

Noah also made Mamie a bracelet...

Bon anniversaire Mamie!

Hope you liked the flowers!

Galette des Rois

Every year at the beginning of January, the French bake (or usually buy) a cake or galette des rois (cake of the kings) with a little porcelain figurine hidden in it. Last weekend, we had some French/Belgian friends over for crown decorating and galette. The youngest person in the group sits under the table and decides who gets what piece of cake. Noah (the youngest of our little group) really enjoyed the process and excitedly pointed at our various  friends as we cut the cake. The person who finds the figurine in his/her piece of cake is the king/queen and chooses his/her queen/king. We had two cakes (which Seth and Noah had expertly made from scratch) and hence two figurines and four kings and queens...

Vive la royaute!!!!

Double Trouble

Today Noah is 2.5 years old and... he has doubled his height since his birth. He was 47cm at birth...

and is now 94.5cm...

Bon Anniversaire Tonton Charles!

Today (January 8th) is Tonton Charles's birthday. As is his habit, Noah was very excited and made a cake for Tonton (though I am not sure it would taste very good). It was his idea and design. I was brought in only when he was done and proudly exclaimed: "maman, j'ai fait un gateau" (mom, I made a cake).

And a drawing (a sun, some clouds and two cats according to Noah).

Joyeux anniversaire Tonton Charles.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year to you all from Seth, Valerie, Lhasa, ...

Baby Noah (4 months old)...

... and big boy Noah (2 years and 5 months) 

Time sure flies! Hope 2012 brings you all health, happiness, adventure and excitement.