It's NON Time

Publié par Analyse à 9/27/2007 07:26:00 PM

jeudi, septembre 27, 2007

Louna, go to bed now. NON.


Let's go do the potty. NON.

Drink your milk. NON.

What happened to my sweet, ever obeying little Louna? Oh, not a big deal. She's simply growing up.

The terrible twos stage is not a new phenomenon. I knew that it will come and I'm prepared for it. The oppositional behaviour that she sports at the moment is simply her way to stress out her choices - her first approach to independence.

So how do we deal with it?

Bedtime - If she's watching her favorite cartoon movies, then we ask her to say goodbye to the characters because her Tetite (her fave stuff toy) is already waiting for her.

Potty time - Instead of imposing it to her, we ask her if she wants to go to the potty or not. We also tell her to inform us if she feels the need to go. The strategy seems to work.

Mealtime - We teasingly check her cup/plate and tell her Oh, there's still some on your plate so she's quite challenged and finish her meal.

In fact, at this age, toddlers have this need to disagree with their parents to express their choices independently. Some parents would force their kids to obey them without considering this important behavioral change their kids are going through. Toddlers would resist the more you force them. I think the best compromise is to find the best strategy that would work with each kid.

But wait, I'm no saint. She still gets her dose of Time Out Corner if needed.

Some people would seem to concentrate on this bad changes their kids are undergoing. I find it sad because there are a lot of other exciting changes and discoveries at this stage. I'd rather call this stage the Terrific Twos. Here's why:

She's expressing herself more clearly now. She starts to form sentences which is a joy to hear.

Il pleut (It's raining). Rainy days are back and she knows it. She touches her head at the same time when she says this phrase. Most of the time, she says it just because she wants to wear her raincoat.

A demain (See you tomorrow). She barely pronounces a 'main, with her hands waving. But well, it's the thought that counts, right?

Martin. It's the name of the other boy in her Nanny's place. She only pronounces 'Tin. Coincidentally, it's also the name of his cousin. This morning, she saw a picture of Martin, her cousin and she pointed at it saying 'Tin.

Bonbon (Sweets/Candies). We discovered that she's getting bonbons in her Nanny's place because she said the word the first time she saw one at home. Oppps.

L'eau (Water). This goes to all liquids - water, milk, fruit juice, chocolate drink.

Her favorite phrase, as usual, is Il est où (where is it)? But this time, it's taking more precision. It could go from Il est où, le pain (where is the bread)? to Il est où, Papa?

On to the English language, she understands quite good but only have one word for now - car, which she pronounces as cah. She knows where her nose is, for example, but she would say nez instead. Funny because I'm playing nose-to-nose with her, but when it's her who request for it, she would say nez-à-nez.

Other joys of the Terrific Twos are the cute tricks she discovers each day.

Playing Maman. Nope, not the imitating part. I mean, she would take my bag, wear my shoes, give me a kiss and say Au revoir, maman (goodbye, maman).

Cache Cache. She loves playing hide-and-seek. She would count tee tee tee (her version of 1 2 3) and would appreciate it if you hide. One dinner time, Frenchguy and I were busy talking when she started saying Il est où main, Il est où main? (Main = hand, but she was actually asking where is the stuff she had in her hand = her spoon). We started searching for the lost spoon (under the table, at the sides of her chair..), her pretending to search too and was darn serious! After a few minutes, there she was, showing us her spoon which she hid under her legs. Clever girl!

Now, would you still call this stage Terrible Twos or Terrific Twos?

22 Months Update

Publié par Analyse à 9/15/2007 12:41:00 PM

samedi, septembre 15, 2007

My little girl's growing and it's quite hard to realize that she's nearing 2 years old and she'll start playschool starting February of next year. She's mastered a lot of skills and tricks now that makes her more adorable. I'm sure you're excited as me to unravel her cuteness.


Vocabulary Check

Mamie and Papi - the French words for grandma and grandpa were a hit this summer, especially that she stayed almost two week with her grandparents. She calls her nanny's mom Mamie too. And mind you, she could exige Mamie's attention with matching stamping of her feet. What an authority!

Pain - French word for bread. She's quite addicted to this word as much as she is addicted to the actual bread. And the way she wipes her plate with her bread, or the way she dips her bread to her cup of milk, you would know that she's a real Frenchie.

Tchin-Tchin - Here in France, if they don't say Santé (to health) to say Cheers, they would say tchin-tchin. And my little girl would ask for a tchin-tchin everytime she drinks her glass of water.. so careful if you serve yourself with wine.

Main - Hands. Of course, she knows where her hands are and she knows how to wash them. She would take one chair near the wash basin, climb the chair and ask help from Maman or Papa by shouting 'main main' with her hands held up high.

Moo - it could be Nemo when she wants to watch the movie or a cow if she sees one.

Oh Men - Have you seen Dora the Explorer? Do you know Swiper the Fox? And do you know what Swiper says? Oh men!

Back Pack - Still with Dora the Explorer, now with the Back Pack. Louna has some collections of Dora band-aids (which her Maman bought of course) and I caught her one time at the playground telling her playmate about her band-aid - she was singing the Back Pack song while pointing on her knees with the band-aid.


More Tricks

She basically mastered all the animal sounds in her book, almost all her principal body parts and is becoming more and more sensitive to music. She could sing Frere Jacques / Are You Sleeping song with her own lyrics hehe... but you could actually recognize the song, that's essential, right?
She's trying to use her left hand for eating lately and she's doing it great. Check the videos below, at the last entry.

She also loves patterns - you know, she had to follow the trail when we do hiking. Look at the picture attached, she walks on the green lane.

On potty training, optimist-me says we're almost at the finish line. She says caca or pot when she feels like doing it and would say non if it's no, of course. The problem is, she only informs us in the morning and evening.. and during daytime, she would finally forget informing us because she would be busy with her baby life. I try to ask her every so often and it works, she would say oui (yes) or non. The problem is, when I start to get busy with everything else except Maman life, I too, forget that I have to ask her for a pot. A friend told me I have to use an alarm clock and I swear, I'll use it this weekend.


She hates Mamanrazzi

When is the age when kids adore posing infront of the camera? Mine still hates it at 22 months old. She hides from me! .. Or is she hiding because she's eating something?

Spot the Difference

Publié par Analyse à 9/13/2007 09:59:00 PM

jeudi, septembre 13, 2007

Taken Saturday, July 7, 2007


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Taken Friday, September 7, 2007

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Do you spot any difference?

New Tricks and More

Publié par Analyse à 9/07/2007 06:09:00 PM

vendredi, septembre 07, 2007

You must be wondering how am I and what I'm doing. Maman had been quite busy lately and now she's sick so I thought, I might as well update my own blog. I've heard that Daddy (my grandpa from the Philippines) was asking about me non-stop and was disappointed to see my Maman in the Philippines alone, sans me. So okay, I'm taking the situation myself. I can't wait for my parents. I'll update you of the latest developments, latest tricks.. everything latest about me!

So where do I begin? Well, I'll probably start with an activity in a playground which I found beneficial and I could use in my everyday toddler life. Look at the picture below:


Me climbing the rope at the playground, then the stairs at the hotel, then trying my skills on rock climbing. I'm learning really fast!

During our vacation, we had a stopover at a zoo and the challenge was to imitate the animals to realize, well, animal-life what else.


With the pictures above, I was trying the tyrolienne bébé-style and the exercise bar wherein I stayed 9 long seconds to imitate monkeys. The 3rd picture shows how good I am to imitate pink flamingos.

Aside from good experiences, I also had my share of bad experience during our vacation. We were in a parking area at La Mongie preparing for our magnificent ride to the Pic du Midi when this cutie little donkey approached us. Maman rapidly took her camera to take a picture of me with the donkey while Papa held it to prevent any accident. I tried to caress it but the donkey thought I was giving something to eat. There you go. Maman captured a great picture of me, my hand inside the donkey's mouth. Papa said donkeys are kind and it didn't mean to hurt me.. but I was nevertheless hurt! Bad donkey!

Oppps, by the way, I finally said goodbye to my feeding bottle without the fuss. Drinking my milk from a bowl, just like my parents do, is really cool. I actually overheard them say that it shows where I'm interested into by checking on which skill I develop first. I eat excellently well for my age. Now, I drink from cups and glasses and I could proudly say that I never broke one.

Well, I don't know why they make it big of a deal that I have a BIG appetite for my tiny stomach when the little boy with me at the nanny's place had to be pushed just so he swallows something. Parents! They never know what they want for their kids.