My lil Bossy Boy

My lil boy is turning 2-years in 2 months time! Before even being a 2-years old toddler, 12-years old adolescent or a 20-years old young adult, my lil boy is a lil Bossy Boy!
Besides being a perfectionist (just like mummy), he always want to boss everyone around. With his ability to speak short phrases without any proper grammar in using the preposition and conjunction he will just shoot his instructions. Being the lil Bossy boy, he addresses himself as "Max" and started commenting, pin-pointing and requesting everyone especially us!
He uses phrases such as:

1. Max clothes
2. Mummy-milk-milk car (Meaning - He wants mummy to feed him milk while holding to his car).
   
3. Uh-Oh! No more lights!
4. Uh-Oh! Close (Meaning - we have to close the drawer or cupboard or the door properly after opening them).
5. On lights
6. Yes, stairs (Meaning - Yes, I want to go downstairs /upstairs).
7. Yes, Pi-Pi (Meaning - Yes, I want to watch Pingu).
8. Take! Take! Take! (While pointing at anything he wants and request us to take it for him)
   

Obviously if any of his instructions are not being full-filled, he will definitely:

1. Scream!
2. Whine
3. Throw tantrum by lying down on the floor and roll around

It's not easy to control his tantrum throwing although we tried ignore, distract or substitute. Sometimes he will give-in but most of the time he is just being our Lil Bossy Boy!

No more baby

It was the 6th of September when I went for the O&G check up after a week of spotting and leakage. The nurse in Klinik Ibu dan Anak advised me to get a scan from the O&G. I have never felt so anxious while waiting and since I could sense that something is not right about this pregnancy, I felt even more anxious. I can only pray...
When I was called into the Gynecologist room, I told the whole situation to her and up to the examination bed to get my scan. The 1st scan (abdomen scan) failed to trace the fetus's heartbeat and it was confirmed by the 2nd scan through the virginal. My heart dropped upon hearing this and I was ALONE! The gynecologist said I need to do a D&C immediately to avoid any infection since the fetus has died in 7 weeks old although through her scan it showed 8th week.
I cried when I called hubby but what needed to be done, need to be done fast. I signed the consent letter and then admitted.
The process was fast! It happened just like a blink of eyes - when I was conscious, it was DONE. My baby has gone! I was too tired to think or be sad about it... what I could do is just talked about the future plan with hubby as i lay down in the ward. And my mind was thinking about my lil Maximus. I miss him so much at the moment and wanted to hold him close in my arms.
It's just a feeling of loosing something precious and I guess Maximus is the one whom I hold preciously. But God is good...and He is good all the time.
Through this time of trial, I cling unto Him for His Mighty strength. I found strength in Him... thus I was able to control my emotion. When I went home, I has the comfort of Maximus, hubby and also my mother. It's a feeling for warm and secure.
Late at night, we had our bed-time bonding with Maximus. Low and behold, he uttered the word "No more baby'" and it surprised us! I guess my lil guy here know what has happened. He was aware or somehow in his spirit he was connected to us.
Well... I was relief when he uttered those words and it seems a confirmation to me that I have to accept this fact. So i surrender it to God and let him plan for our next one.

Maximus and HFMD

Hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD) is a fairly common viral illness in children. (HFMD is not the same as foot-and-mouth disease, also called hoof-and-mouth disease, which affects animals.)
HFMD most often occurs in preschoolers, although adults and children of any age can get it. Most adults have developed antibodies against it from previous exposure. HFMD most often shows up in the summer and fall.
HFMD can be caused by any of a number of viruses, most commonly the coxsackie virus.
Toddler contracts HFMD, will first have a mild fever. A day or two after the fever starts, your toddler will develop painful sores in his mouth — on his tongue, gums, or the inside of his cheeks. This will likely make him irritable. Your child may also develop a rash on the palms of his hands, the soles of his feet, and maybe his buttocks. The rash, which isn't itchy, starts out as small, flat, red dots that may turn into bumps or blisters.

(Facts taken from babycentre.com)

Based on the above facts, I firstly discover that Maximus is infected with HFM on 28 August during late afternoon towards evening. However, he got all the symptoms (fever, spots, ulcers) all at the same time. So instead of going for our family dinner, we rushed to the nearest hospital.
Maximus was confirmed having HFMD by the pediatrician but was told that he didn't need to be admitted. However since the administration has been done, we stayed on.

He was super duper cranky and it's really pitiful to see him suffers in pain especially with the ulcers in his mouth - the worst is on the tip of his tongue. He was being quarantined in a single room. The pediatrician and nurses are nice and helpful (of course...we paid a deposit of RM 2k).

At home, Maximus was really sticky to us like glue and always wanted to be carried. He can't eat much but we have to give him more fluid. I have to record down the quantity of fluid he took so that he won't be dehydrated.

Although he is still active - playing well especially with his cousins, he still isn't himself because of the ulcers pain. Sometimes he gets very cranky and cries a lot. It's not easy for us and it really takes a lot of patient to fulfill his needs.

I pray every night for God's healing and speedy recovery. I am sure this happened for a good reason. We were supposed to go for a picnic at the Ulu Yam waterfall on Sunday 29 August but I think God has HIS plan to protect us from the recent disease.

1st Master piece

Finally I bought a toddler-size (fat) crayon that suitable for toddler's fine motor skill. So my lil artist is into colouring. This is his 1st master piece... Showing it with pride!

Maximus started by choosing yellow crayon and coloured the aeroplane. Then he changed to green.
Finally, he presented his art work!

From being timid to an enjoyable experience

Any new experiences for toddlers seem to be a 1st adventure. Some will feel timid but some are bold to try even it's their 1st. All these are just the part and parcel of growing up from an infant to a toddler now.
Maximus has different experiences in his toddler-hood i.e. from taking the bus ride to the train ride. And from having an adventure on the highland, waterfall and now to the beach.
We first brought him to the beach just in conjunction with the Kinderland Seremban 2 Sports Day event. Since I have to be there for work purposes, I decided to give him a good exposure to the beach. Of course I have my hubby along so that I can also focus on my work.
When we were there, Maximus was so afraid to go down bare-footed on the sandy beach. So I decided to put him on the mat and let him explore the sand with his hands. Soon after the hands-on experiences, slowly he moved to step on the sand. Wah-lah...he begun to move around freely on the sandy beach with other children.
It was a wonderful and enjoyable experience for him. Although he is still not ready to face the wave at the sea, I am sure he will be more bold to explore one day. It's an adventure for him.

Talking in short phrases

As toddler reaches 2 years old, the language development begins to develop fast...and slowly a toddler will start to talk in a complete sentence i.e. I want milk.
The language development of a young toddler begins with 1 syllabus word - milk, daddy, mummy, car etc. Then 2 syllabus word - flower, open, apple, etc. From the 2 syllabus words, toddler will start to combine those vocab into 2 or more phrase i.e. big car, daddy's car, here pain etc.
Maximus's language development is in the milestone as he reaches 2 years old soon (in Nov). He begins to explore his vocab and combine words into short phrase. It's really cute and overwhelming to see how he uses his vocab in his daily conversation. I would said that I have totally lost count of the number of vocab that he has grasped.
He uses different type of vocab in his daily conversation and mostly in short phrases (2 or more words). I enjoy having a conversation with him especially when I read a book or tell a story to him. He is able to interact well... in his tiny voice, I found it a great achievement in his language development. Some phrases sounded silly yet cute and some are used in a very smart ways.
Here are some of the short phrases that Maximus are using:

1. Big truck (or car, bus)
2. Daddy's big car
3. Mummy's bag
4. Po-po's house
5. Big house
6. Kor-kor (or anyone in the family) pain-pain
   
7. Mummy scold (or anyone in the family)
8. No more thing
   
9. No more flower (or any nouns of object)
10. Daddy / mummy work
11. More milk
    

These are few of the short phrases that he uses in his daily conversation. Some silly phrases are:

1. Two milk (especially when he is being breast-fed)
   
2. No more Doh-no (as referring to McDonalds)
3. Bum-bum pain-pain (giving excuses not to wear diaper)

Slowly and surely, he will begin to progress to speaking in simple short sentences. And I am sure by 2 he won't stop talking... mostly the twos are the chatter-box because they start to "parrot" or imitate any adults' conversation.

Still Got?

Maximus is picking up language fast. I would say that he learns a new word daily and is able to apply them. He learn his language from everyone in the family - Chinese from grandma, English from us as well as his cousin.
My concern is having Maximus picking up the wrong words and also using Bad English especially from his cousins. Since his cousins are all Chinese Education and not exposed to good command of English, they tend to translate words from Chinese to English.
A very good example is "Still Got". I tried to figure out where did Maximus learn that word and soon realised that it was from his cousins... and to my horror it was a direct translated word from Chinese "hai-you"
In fact, I tried correcting Maximus from using the wrong word but then I stopped because I found it very cute when he says "still got". There are few context where he applies that word into his speech:

1. During sticker time - when he pasted the stickers, he said "still got" and wanting more stickers.
   
2. Switching on the lights - he pointed to the light and said "light" as to ask me to switch on the light. Then he pointed to another light and said "still got".
3. Snack time - he enjoys his favourite snack / biscuits and says "still got" when he finishes his 1st bite.
   
4. Playing with his toy cars - he pushes the car to knock on each other. Grab another and say "still got".
   
5. Applying oilmen - when I apply some oilmen on the mosquitoes bites mark, he points at other marks and say "still got."

Soon I learn to accept that word but I hope that as he grow up he will learn the right word. I do not wish that he speak bad English because it doesn't serve the purpose. I am sure he will learn from it.