Transition object

Transition object is an object such as a smelly pillow, napkin, smelly teddy, pacifier etc used by a child to bring him/her comfort. I learnt about this during an Art Therapy workshop organised by NASOM and then I reflected it on Maximus's habit of wanting to hold his napkin or a peg when he was being tucked to sleep especially without giving him the breast to suckle on.

During the newborn period, the baby lives in an illusion world when he feels that he is in control over it. However during the later months, he begins to realise that he is no longer in control and there will be a seperation period with his parents or carer. From his illusion world he has moved into the disillusion and will make him feel unsafe. Therefore the gap/space between his illusion world and his disillusion world will be replaced by his transition object to make him feel safe and back to his own illusion world.

This is very true because when Maximus wanted to fall asleep usually without mummy around, he will want to hold on to his napkin and his peg (especially when during nap time since he is sleeping in his sarung). I like watching him holding to his transition objects when he wants to fall asleep. His little fingers will nibble the napkin and another grasping to the peg. Slowly and surely yet feeling safe he will close his little eyes to sleep.

Wheter or not in his illusion or disillusion world, I will always make sure that Maximus will be safe and feel secure. Although he has moved into his toddler stage now, he is still very vulnerable and need a sense of security. And this will not stop here... it will be through out the period until he grows up to be more independent.

Maximus's and his cousins

Children are quick to identify and recognise their extended family especially with their cousins when they spend most time playing and growing together. At their late months before turning 1-year, they can point to the name of their family members when being asked and easily associated with them. It's also amazing to see that they have their favourite person that they especially reacted to - smile, excited or playful with the particular special person.

This is exactly the same to Maximus. He loves to play with his both cousins Zhi Hao and Wen Hao although he has the other cousins around. However, these 2 particular cousins are special to him because they play together most often. Maximus usually waited for them to be back from

school and will quickly cling to them and asked to play with him. He wants to be with them at all time!During our trip to Melaka to celebrate Maximus's birthday, we went for a walk around the historical area around Pahlawan Mall in Bandar Hilir. Maximus was so attached to his cousins and wanted to be with them at all times. He was all full with excitment when he watched his cousins around him.

Top-Left: Maximus with Zhi Hao

Left: Maximus with Shi-Min from JB who Maximus hardly spend time with except when they are around.

Right: Maximus with some of his cousins

Maximus 1st Birthday celebration

We celebrated Maximus's 1st birthday in Melaka on the 7th Nov. It was just among the family and everyone from the both side of the family (my family and my in-law) came together to dine and celebrate Maximis's 1-year birthday. We had our dinner in a vegetraian restaurnt. Maximus was excited over his 2 tiers Race-track cake especially the 2 toy cars on the cake as his birthday present. His birthday theme is "Carz". It was a great time of celebration with family. Maximus got so used to receiving gifts and ang pau and he will hold onto it.

Seeing so many people around, as usual he will put on his cool look and doesnt smile much even having his photo taken. Check out the photos...

My Little Explorer

In nature, children love to explore. As Maximus begun grasping his skill in walking, he enjoys walking and exploring around too. Although sometimes he may think that it's faster to crawl than to walk, he enjoys the sense of achivement using his new skill especially when he is being acknowleged of it. He claps when we praised him "Clever boy".

This video shows him walking around with daddy's help... He turned exactly ONE on this day when we brought him out for exploring and playing. Slowly but steadily, he is walking and walking till his little feet got tired!

Walking around in Jungle Gym, BSC Bangsar

Announcing MumCentre's October Photo Blog Contest Winners

Yes! This notice was sent to my email and I wasn't really very optimistic that I would win...But out of the blue, I saw the photo of Maximus...We won!
Not sure what will the gift voucher would be but it's all about the joy of winning. Check out the site here at MumCentre Malaysia site. Maximus photo blog calendar was most viewed and visited. For that we got gift vouchers from MumCentre but it's not about the gifts...it's the joy of winning!
Thank you MumCentre and all those who visited my photo blog...

Birthday Outing

It's Maximus's 1 year old birthday on the 6th Nov. I took half-day off work (it's boring anyway) to be home with Maximus and get ready for our outing. It was a great experience for Maximus to explore and play in the HUGE playground for children. We went to JungleGym in BSC...and it's FREE for children below 2 years old.

It was a spacious place but Maximus felt very much insecured because of the new surrounding and those HUGE play equipments.

There are the ball pool, giant slide, tunnel, climbing frame etc but Maximus just clinged onto me most of the time! So I have to keep him company to explore and create the sense of security for him. Besides that he also kept on looking out for his daddy too. Daddy wasn't allowed because he didn't have his socks. And mummy gets tired and body-ached after going through the physical play with Maximus.

This sort of opprotunity created for Maximus shows an example on how the adults can play a role to create an opening for the little ones to play. I would called this as a "partnership-play" when both adult (more experienced) and the child (less experienced) join venture into getting involved in playing. It's obvious that the playground is a totally new environment for Maximus and also intimidating for a one-year old child! So in this situation, the adult's role changed through out to create a play experience for the child. Normally, in play for young children, it should be a free play senario where children are free to choose and play independently.

But I don't think free play can be internalised in this new environment for Maximus.

After all the play, Maximus prefers to be out and about to walk/crawl around to explore the enviornment. So we let him cruise around the furniture before we head for out dinner in Monte.

It was a wonderful Birthday outing for Maximus and us!

Maximus's cutest baby id #0027

I submitted Maximus's baby photo to LittleWhiz.com for the cutest baby contest. Click here and look out for Maximus's id #0027 and vote for him if you think he is the cutest baby.
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