Ethan

There’s no hard and fast rule about when and how to toilet train a child, but experts say that if the child is ready, half the battle is won.  Some people choose to *make* the child ready by programming them to go potty from the onstart, but I was of the *other* school of thought and only began starting Ethan on toilet training after he turned 3.

Yes, you may have noticed that I hardly blogged about toilet training because I wanted it to happen naturally, or so I thought.  I also didn’t wanna jinx the process by blogging about it and then having to retract whatever I had written.  You could say that I wanted to wait till the entire process was completed before I wrote about it.

I’m extremely proud of my little boy … now my little man.  Although it was a process that took us 3 years to complete, I’m so happy that through it all, he feels a sense of achievement in what he is doing.  The initial struggle has been well worth it.

Because once it happens, it just does.

In the Beginning

Ethan was able to let us know when he wanted to poopoo when he was about 2+, and that helped loads.  But the peepee portion was the one that was eluding us.  I tried taking him to the toilet every now and then, but I could tell he was not ready.  Even though he was in cloth diapers then, which were supposed to speed up toilet training, he just wasn’t ready.

We had a few successes during our US relocation, as sometimes he would peepee successfully when we take him to the toilet.

At other times, though, he just wasn’t interested.

So we decided to go cold turkey and put him in underpants.  But even then, he would not feel uncomfortable when he had small accidents.  Time and again, we went back to square one, and we were not going anywhere.  I tried sticker charts (1 sticker for a successful peepee and 2 for a successful poopoo).  It worked for a while but then the novelty wore off and he would go back to wearing his pull-ups.

I admit I did worry a little as to when he would be toilet-trained, but then I kept reminding myself that there weren’t any teenagers I knew who weren’t toilet-trained, so I knew the day he would be completely trained would come some day.  The question is just when.

Admittedly, it’s difficult when we were in the minority.  When people around you tell you about their kids who are toilet-trained since 2, you just have to learn to smile and say, “He’ll be ready soon.”

Read the rest of this entry »

Several weeks ago, Ethan’s school planned a class field trip to visit two heritage buildings/sites in Penang.  And since I myself have not visited those places before, I asked for permission from his teacher for me to tag along, with the primary reason of snapping some pictures 🙂

The two places that the class visited was the Cheong Fatt Tze mansion on Leith Street, and Chew Jetty at Weld Quay.

The kids were ferried around in a bus while I drove to the sites on my own.  Apparently, a few other mothers were tagging along that day too, some for reasons unknown to me.

Photography was not allowed in the mansion itself, so I could only take a few outside before we went in…well actually, I did snap some pictures inside, but with my iPhone (read: quiet and small) 🙂

The image of the stately blue mansion against the beautiful blue sky that day was breathtaking.  It was my first time there, even though I had been staying in Penang for more than 10 years now.

…and no…I am not obsessed with taking pictures of trishaws 😛

A peek into the living room where all the kids were being given an introductory explanation by the tour guide, Aunty Pauline, before the start of the tour of the mansion:

More amazing architecture from within the mansion’s walls:

After the mansion tour: a handful of the kids posing for a group photo…they actually look very hungry, don’t they?

Well, I suppose the kids had their snacks on the bus on the way to the next stop, Chew Jetty, because when they arrived, they were all full of energy!

Read the rest of this entry »