Bible Verse of the Day

Ethan at 33 months

Scrap Credits
IkeaGoddess Template 12 (Circles) from Ikea Goddess
PPixie-AfterDusk kit from PinkuPixie Digital Designs
zgl alpha splat from
Ziggle Designs & Kami Leonard
Acrylic alphas from A work in progress
Polka dotted arrow from Dúnia  

 Weight

About 12.7 kilos. He was weighed in at 28lbs at a recent visit to the pediatrician here in California, but he was fully clothed then and not feeling too well either.

Height

Did not measure recently, but he can reached the door handles and open all the doors to our apartment now.  Surely that means he has grown lengthwise?

Teeth

18.  Refuses to allow me to wash his teeth with a washcloth now, and also refuses to let me brush his teeth with a toothbrush.  On occasion, he will brush his teeth himself with some fluoride-free toothpaste, and I heard from his daycare sitter, Van, that sometimes he will allow her to brush his teeth too, perhaps due to good examples shown by Venice, Van’s daughter.

And, oh yeah, lately he will bite us when he is “geram” or when he doesn’t get his way.  Both the daycare center and us back at home are trying to educate him that it is wrong to bite.

Developmental Milestones

  • Ethan’s vocabulary has definitely increased in leaps and bounds since he came to the States.  He can express himself better and sometimes surprises us with words we didn’t know he knew.
    • His favorite word when he first arrived here was “open”.  He would use it whenever he wanted us to open the door, open the fridge, open the container for him.  So in the first 2 or 3 nights that he suffered from jet lag, I would constantly be awakened by Ethan climbing down from our bed, running to the door and saying, “Open! Open!”  Lately, he has started using the phrase, “Open door! Open door!”
    • Believe it or not, he says the phrase “Apa tu?” when he wants to know what something is.  For example, when we are eating at the table, he will point to one of the dishes laid out on the table and go, “Apa tu?” and we’ll go, “That’s soup.”  And he’ll say, “Soup?”  And then he’ll point to something else and say, “Apa tu?” and we’ll say, “Vege, Ethan.”  And he’ll follow by saying, “Vege”, “Carrot”, “Curry”, whatever… as you can see, he is beginning to sound more and more like a parrot nowadays.
    • He also learnt the word “cooking” when he came to the States.  Before we arrived, he only used the word “cook”, but after spending a few days at home with me here, he would go, “Cooking!  Cooking!” when he sees me in the kitchen.  Maybe it’s cuz I tell him, “Ethan, please don’t come into the kitchen, Mommy is cooking!”  And then sometimes he would want to see what I am cooking and when I show him, he’ll go, “Soup!”
    • Another one of his favorite words nowadays is “Dowan!” or “Don’t want!”.  He started by saying “Want!” or “Wanee!” when he didn’t want something, but a few days later, he picked up “Dowan!”.  So our normal conversation typically is like this:
      Me: Ethan, do you want to eat rice?
      Ethan: Dowan!
      Me: Come, let’s take a bath in the tub!
      Ethan: I dowan!
      Me: Do you wanna take a nap?
      Ethan: Dowan! Dowan!
    • There are many other words he has learnt, and I believe it is also because of his exposure to more kids at daycare.  In a way, his increasing vocabulary has made him more confident as he is growing up to be a big boy now 🙂
  • Ethan can now address a few people quite accurately.  It started when we took him to that barbecue gathering in early October when we arrived in California.  I prepped him to address “Aunty”, “Uncle”, etc.  And now he can say, “Artee”, “Ah-kurl”, “Ko-ko”, “Cheh-cheh”, and of course before he learnt all this, he said, “Kong Kong” and “Ah Ma” 🙂  Of course, it is hilarious how he sometimes calls a particular person “Ah-kurl” and another “Ko-ko”.  I am also teaching him to address his actual uncles and aunties, e.g. “Ah Koo”, “Ah Kim”, “Ah Chek”, “Ah Cheem”, “Kor Kor”, “Ah Pek” and “Ah Mmm”.  Pronunciation still needs some work though, but he is getting there.
  • He wants to do a lot of things by himself too.  He tries to pull down his “car” pullup pants on his own (which is good), he wants to play the DVD on his own, he wants to climb into the car seat by himself, he wants to walk on the street on his own (not so good)…
  • Of course, as it is with two-year-olds, he has a rather bad temper at times too.  When he doesn’t get his way, he will kick and scream.  We would normally just let him be for a while till he cools down and he will then be okay.

Food and Feeding

  • Ever since he started daycare, he has reverted to self-feeding, which is a good thing.  Sometimes he still wants me to feed him, but sometimes, he will want to do it himself, and he will say, “Hold!”, which indicates he wants to hold the spoon on his own.  He can drink milk on his own from the cup now, and just yesterday, he drank quite a lot of the chilled lactose-free milk I bought 🙂
  • Ethan has still a long way to go to eating lots of different foods, but he is eating a more varied variety now.  I sometimes give him some minced turkey with his rice and also some brocolli florets.  I am so into minced turkey meat nowadays.  It’s leaner and taste so much better than pork.  However, we have to hide the food in his gravy rice though.  If he doesn’t see it, he’ll eat it.  Besides turkey and brocolli, Van has also succeeded in giving him a little bit of beef (hehe), and surprise, surprise, he can eat spaghetti with a fork now (woohoo!).  The good thing, though, is that I can tell Ethan is more curious about what food is being served on the table now.  Hopefully he will soon be curious enough to eat more.

Potty/toilet training

He has started on potty training at daycare, and Van will take him to the potty every hour or so.  Most of the time, Ethan can tell us when he wants to poo, either by signing or by saying “Baba”, or by using his facial expressions.  However, he still has not peed in the toilet yet, all he wants to do now is to flush!  We’ll keep trying though.

  1. Paik Ling’s avatar

    Apa tu?? that’s sooooooo cute!!

    Joyce says: Hehe…yeah, I always laugh when I hear him say that!

    Reply

  2. Susan’s avatar

    Got slang liao? : )

    The Giddy Tigress says: No la, where got?

    Reply

  3. KittyCat’s avatar

    Boy, you’re so on time with your monthly updates! I’m 2 months behind liau…bad Mummy

    That “Apa tu?” is so hilarious!!! Where on earth did he get it from?

    I finaly figured out this question Lucas asks many, many times which turns out to be “Zhe ge shen me lai de?” (“What’s this?”). The funny thing is that he likes to ask English questions in the rhythm of this Chinese question! E.g. “What’s that sound? Where’s Papa? Where are you Mummy?” which sound kind of cute and kind of weird at the same time.

    Hey…spend a bit more time hugging and assuring Ethan. Biting is a sign of stress, maybe from the move. Lucas got bitten more than 5 times from 3 stressed-up tots in preschool! That’s how I know 🙂

    Joyce says: LOL.. you call that on time? I try my best la…. I have no idea where he learnt “Apa tu?”..maybe he was watching Astro Ceria back in Malaysia 🙂

    Reply

  4. slavemom’s avatar

    Happy 33rd Mth, Ethan! So cute his “Apa tu?” My boy’s current fav is oso “Dowan”, esp when I ask him to eat medicine.

    Joyce says: Children always like to learn the negative terms first, don’t they?

    Reply

  5. PinkuPixie’s avatar

    Oh my gosh! I just love what you’ve done with this layout. Great use of my part from the After Dusk Blog train Collab. ;o)

    Joyce says: Thanks! It was a great collaboration kit to begin with!

    Reply

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