Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Turning 30

Huda is 30 months old today.. She's a big girl now and here's a progress report on her for all those who are interested..

1. Does she throw tantrums? Oh yes. When she's scolded, she'll start to spit (euw!!), throw things on the floor or say 'Ep!' to the person scolding her. How, how, how do we stop this? We have tried reasoning with her, scolded her, smacked her.. But this behaviour still continues. Sigh. We can't possibly wait til she's older to reason with her. We need her to know NOW that her behaviour is unacceptable. How? How do you discipline your children? Does Supernanny's naughty corner work for 2-year-olds?

2. She's still shy around strangers. This is good. It makes her a lot more manageable when we are in a public place. Something about her really tickled me recently. We were at the hospital recently (visiting, not staying). A visitor dropped by. Huda took the 'Urban' section of the Straits Times, placed it on the floor, plonked herself in front of the papers and started to read the papers. Slowly she flipped to the next page and the next page. Then, when the visitor started to take notice of her, she bent even lower, pointed to the words on the papers (and her fingers actually moved from left to right, following the text), as if she was concentrating really hard on what she was reading. We laughed so hard at the sight but Huda was way too engrossed.

3. She is getting chubbier. Hooray! Everyone around her has been commenting on how there are more of her cheeks now. Yipppeeeee!!! She's drinking milk very often (Pediasure and Enfagrow - thanks for the recommendation Nani, Norza & Liza!) although when it comes to her main meals, it's still a bit of a struggle to feed her.

4. We still have not toilet-trained her. We'll wait til she turns three or during the end-of-year school holidays. We are simply l-a-z-y.

5. Her speech - This was one of our areas of concern for her. But, she has improved tremendously since I last wrote about her. She's now talking a lot. She is mostly a Malay-speaking child and we intend to keep it that way for as long as possible. At the same time, she is also aware that there are different words for the same thing but I am not too sure if she is aware that the different labels come from two different language systems.

Once, she asked for 'chox'. I had no idea what that was and I told her so. Soon, she was exasperated and asked for 'tetotin'. Ah! Enlightenment. She wanted socks and when I failed to understand her, she used the Malay word which is 'stokin'.

She's forming proper sentences too. She can join a few concepts together to form a coherent and grammatically sound sentence. At times, she has this strange quirk which surfaces when she's about to sleep. She will start off with one sentence, for example, "Umar (her cousin) baca Quran" (Umar reads the Quran). Then, she'll just change the subject of the sentence and she'll go, "Nabilah baca Quran; Sofia baca Quran; Cik Jiji baca Quran.." (The list goes on until she has covered every single member of her extended family.) It is strangely endearing yet annoying all at once because all I want to do is sleep yet she's going on and on and on and on like a broken record.

Her favourite phrase for now, unfortunately, is "Tak tahu" (Don't know). That, and "Tak nak" (Don't want). I have myself to blame because sometimes when she asks me a question, I'll just tell her that I don't know. So, now, I am always reminding myself to banish the phrase from my vocab and give her a proper answer each time she asks me a question.

As for "Tak nak", it's such a convenient thing for her to say. "Huda, help me pick up your toys." Answer: Tak nak. "Huda, do you want to eat?" Answer: Tak nak. "Huda, can you help me put this in the room?" Answer: Tak nak.

She can also sustain a conversation for a few turns. She is in love with cranes and excavators and one day, when she looked out of the window, she saw a crane.

Huda: Mak, apa tu? (Mak, what's that? - Sometimes, she asks me the obvious.)

Me: Crane (because I have no idea what a crane is called in Malay)

Huda: Ooooooohh.. Crane.

(pause)

Huda: Mak nak crane? (Do you want the crane?)

Me: Nak. (Yes)

Huda: Nanti Ayah belikan, okay? (Later, Ayah will buy for you, okay?)

6. And, of course, she's as active as ever. She climbs and jumps and falls and climbs and jumps again.

So, this is Huda at the ripe old age of 30 months.

32 comments:

syarni 97 said...

hehe..cute la huda ni.. anak ini anak ini..cik saki n cik muni pat rumah slalu sebut word tu kalo ingat kat huda..hehe

mrs shafei z said...

tetotin! cuteness...hehe.

as for disciplining..I tink notty corner wun quite work for a 2yo...but I really dunno. you can try. diff kids...diff temperamental..wat may work for others may not work for you. notty corners dun work wif aisyah tho. but distraction does. you can distract Huda's attention to something else. nowadays aisyah copies me, 'ibu nak kena pok?' when shes annoyed at me. lawan towkey plak.

Azlifah Afizukil said...

Cuteness!!!! Cute nak mampos!!!! Tunggu eh Huda...hopefuli Raya (ok, maybe we're too ambitious here...) or Dec hols we mit up once again ok. And i will cook spaghetti for u again!!! And you and Alisya and Kak Sarah can mak nenek all u want!!! While mummies catch up wif gossips!

Azlifah Afizukil said...

Cutenesss!!!! Cute nak mampos!!!!!! You wait eh Huda, hopefuli Raya (ok, mayb i'm a bit ambitious here) or mayb Dec hols we mit up and i can cubit tt pipi of urs. I promise i will cook spaghetti 4 u and make ur pipi more tembam!

nad makhuda said...

sekarang, dia suka cakap, "bapak ini, bapak ini.."
kadang2 i tak paham where she picks up all these merepekness..

nad makhuda said...

sekarang, dia suka cakap, "bapak ini, bapak ini.."
kadang2 i tak paham where she picks up all these merepekness..

nad makhuda said...

i use the distraction method A LOT. but that doesnt teach them the consequences of their actions, does it? then again, i nak lecture dia panjang lebar pun, bukan dia paham sangat..

hahaa! and aisyah betul nak lawan tokey, eh? baik betul anak2 kita ni..

nad makhuda said...

i use the distraction method A LOT. but that doesnt teach them the consequences of their actions, does it? then again, i nak lecture dia panjang lebar pun, bukan dia paham sangat..

hahaa! and aisyah betul nak lawan tokey, eh? baik betul anak2 kita ni..

nad makhuda said...

memang betul punya ambitious kita punya meet-up plan.. kau bayangkan aku punya malay-speaking mak nenek dengan kau punya english-speaking mak nenek berbual.. satu cakap itik, lagi satu cakap ayam.
and do i have tonnes of gossip!! wahahaaa! faster, faster meet up! (tapi, betul lah.. hari raya meet-ups never materialise. every weekend is spent visitng an infinite number of relatives and family friends)

nad makhuda said...

memang betul punya ambitious kita punya meet-up plan.. kau bayangkan aku punya malay-speaking mak nenek dengan kau punya english-speaking mak nenek berbual.. satu cakap itik, lagi satu cakap ayam.
and do i have tonnes of gossip!! wahahaaa! faster, faster meet up! (tapi, betul lah.. hari raya meet-ups never materialise. every weekend is spent visitng an infinite number of relatives and family friends)

irris irris said...

haha! Cute seh! And yes, I can see her cheeks now...she's cuter than ever...that lil' kakak-to-be..

Liza Ali said...

She's definitely looking chubby here.

Pasal toilet training, no worries, aku n laki pun sama malas. He ended up going to nursery class with diapers for 2 days only. And from then on he stopped coz malu kawan2 tak pakai diapers. Senangggg keje aku... Now he still wears diapers at nite. A ah..si tua ni pakai Mamy Poko XXL, if his butt grows any bigger, he'll need adult diapers. I just dunno how to toilet train him at nite.

Best nye korang meet up. Tak fair. Anak korang boleh mak nenek session. But there's no pak datuk session is there? Sexist world...ptui! (Still sore abt having no girls, so pardon me)

Liza Ali said...

She's definitely looking chubby here.

Pasal toilet training, no worries, aku n laki pun sama malas. My 1st one, Irfan, ended up going to nursery class with diapers for 2 days only. And from then on he stopped coz malu kawan2 tak pakai diapers. Senangggg keje aku... Now he still wears diapers at nite. A ah..si tua ni pakai Mamy Poko XXL, if his butt grows any bigger, he'll need adult diapers. I just dunno how to toilet train him at nite.

Best nye korang meet up. Tak fair. Anak korang boleh mak nenek session. But there's no pak datuk session is there? Sexist world...ptui! (Still sore abt having no girls, so pardon me)

tea tea said...

huda's so chubby!!! so cuteeeeeeee!!!

i think disciplining a child is a real challenge.hazim loves to tepuk pple on the face and hit pple ley. it's so scary! we have started to discipline him already. EP! EP! then like huda, he'll EP balik! like huh?! but at least he's still scared of fahmy. but not scared of me. haiz.

are u using the 1 language theory so that child won't get confused with the grammar of another language? child will therefore be able to better distinguish the different grammar for different languages? and consequently will be strong in both languages?

i realised tt people with strong command of languages usually come from monolingual family.just my observation... :)

izadnhana Ismail said...

hey my favourite game with aniq is, "... tu apa?"

ie.
me: "aniq! telinga tu apa?"
aniq" "ears!"
(etc with other body parts, objects, animals, bla bla.)

amazing at how they have the ability to translate! biligualism rawks. :)

ouhh, as for naughty corners, they DEFINITELY work leh! and for some reason (i discussed this with a friend and same goes with her kid) they seem to know not to move from the corner, like there's some invisible prison fence, even though we didn't tell them! he'd bawl for a while, then stop and tell me he's a good boy, with a sorry and a hug to boot. hehehe. so now it's a great threatening tool. "tak nak mandi? ok, naughty corner. no tv, no toys, no books, nothing. you want to mandi or not? ok go." hurrah for supernanny!

Ai Li Tay said...

She is chubby!

Ana mn said...

She has chubby cheeks! Like Sarah!
Yeah this Hari Raya, i'm going to have the usual open house. You all better come ah. Then the kids can play! :)
Nad, you're right this is the 'menjawab' period. And naughty corner does not work for Sarah lah. Klau sarah suka pekik and menjawab pat aku, aku kuti chin dia. Nanti dia melalak sebab sakit and i'll let her cry. Lepas tu aku pon reason out dgn dia. Then i'll make her apologise. She will but very reluctant. Ala jadi lah. Daripada takde.
Sarah is turning 3 next month and I hope she gets more sensible. People say their fours are fantastic fours. Hopefully it's true.
And yes their sentences cute kan. Aku ngan laki aku kekadang sampai ketawa terbahak2.

nur azean said...

Yahlah Nad, my elder one 3 and the half yrs baru let go of diapers in the day time, recently we took the plunge last mth and let her sleep without diaper, bila lagi kan tho dia dah slim down sikit, takut nanti dh takde size, so far so good wif only one accident for the month. Ni yang adik pulak dah start cakap when she want to pee n poo, tapi mak bapak dia in denial mode malas nk layan dia go toilet sume so just let the diaper on :)

nur azean said...

Yahlah Nad, my elder one 3 and the half yrs baru let go of diapers in the day time, recently we took the plunge last mth and let her sleep without diaper, bila lagi kan tho dia dah slim down sikit, takut nanti dh takde size, so far so good wif only one accident for the month. Ni yang adik pulak dah start cakap when she want to pee n poo, tapi mak bapak dia in denial mode malas nk layan dia go toilet sume so just let the diaper on :)

nad makhuda said...

yeah lor. memang liat betul nak start. mak bapak aku suruh aku start tapi aku nak bagi the diaper industry some help lah. maklumlah, anak aku tak ramai tak macam zaman nenek moyang kita.
and, apa tu? kau considering putting irfan in adult diapers? wahahaaa!! mudah2an aku tak sampai tahap tu... :P

nad makhuda said...

yeah lor. memang liat betul nak start. mak bapak aku suruh aku start tapi aku nak bagi the diaper industry some help lah. maklumlah, anak aku tak ramai tak macam zaman nenek moyang kita.
and, apa tu? kau considering putting irfan in adult diapers? wahahaaa!! mudah2an aku tak sampai tahap tu... :P

nad makhuda said...

si huda ni, kadang2, dia takut dengan bapak dia, kadang2 takut dengan aku, tapi selalunya dia takut dengan pak long dia. tapi, kesiyan pak long dia kalau aku jadikan pak long dia bogeyman.

as for language - aku takut dia confuse between the sentence structures of malay and english. while she may know individual words, she may not know which is the acceptable way of putting them together. i'm also spooked by what i see happening to kids in schools nowadays. a lot of the children really bahasa rojak habis. they end up being lousy in both english and mother tongue. scary mary, kau.

nad makhuda said...

si huda ni, kadang2, dia takut dengan bapak dia, kadang2 takut dengan aku, tapi selalunya dia takut dengan pak long dia. tapi, kesiyan pak long dia kalau aku jadikan pak long dia bogeyman.

as for language - aku takut dia confuse between the sentence structures of malay and english. while she may know individual words, she may not know which is the acceptable way of putting them together. i'm also spooked by what i see happening to kids in schools nowadays. a lot of the children really bahasa rojak habis. they end up being lousy in both english and mother tongue. scary mary, kau.

nad makhuda said...

.....>>>>> Does anyone know why is it that when I click 'Submit', 2 replies appear instead of 1? It's a bit annoying having to delete the second reply.

nad makhuda said...

you gotta see her *really* soon!!

nad makhuda said...

you gotta see her *really* soon!!

nad makhuda said...

the first few times you put him in the naughty corner, does he try to escape? do you have to keep on dragging him back to his corner? i tried it a few times but lost steam after i had to drag her to the corner repeatedly. i know i should be more persistent la but i conveniently figured that maybe it's too early? heh heh. pemalas parents. tsk tsk.

nad makhuda said...

the first few times you put him in the naughty corner, does he try to escape? do you have to keep on dragging him back to his corner? i tried it a few times but lost steam after i had to drag her to the corner repeatedly. i know i should be more persistent la but i conveniently figured that maybe it's too early? heh heh. pemalas parents. tsk tsk.

nad makhuda said...

memang. like they say, kids say the darndest thing. so hilarious seeing how they process their thoughts.

huda pun very reluctant to apologise. i'm not even asking her to say sorry, tau. just ask her to salam the person whom she has wronged. she would hide her hands behind her and refused to salam. haaaaaiiii.. anak ini anak ini.... (another of her favourite phrase sebab each time she does something silly, i'll just say 'anak ini, anak ini'.. dia pun terikut2..)

nad makhuda said...

memang. like they say, kids say the darndest thing. so hilarious seeing how they process their thoughts.

huda pun very reluctant to apologise. i'm not even asking her to say sorry, tau. just ask her to salam the person whom she has wronged. she would hide her hands behind her and refused to salam. haaaaaiiii.. anak ini anak ini.... (another of her favourite phrase sebab each time she does something silly, i'll just say 'anak ini, anak ini'.. dia pun terikut2..)

nad makhuda said...

takpe, kalau ikut liza punya policy, even if your daughter puts on weight, you can always try adult diapers kalau malas nak toilet train. heheee..

one of the main reasons why i'm so reluctant to toilet-train is because i'm so allergic to public toilets. i cant imagine getting huda to sit on the toilet seat to pee. i'll need to bring disinfectant and sponges and all sorts of things to clean the toilet seats first. (i personally hover above public toilet seats - heh.)

nad makhuda said...

takpe, kalau ikut liza punya policy, even if your daughter puts on weight, you can always try adult diapers kalau malas nak toilet train. heheee..

one of the main reasons why i'm so reluctant to toilet-train is because i'm so allergic to public toilets. i cant imagine getting huda to sit on the toilet seat to pee. i'll need to bring disinfectant and sponges and all sorts of things to clean the toilet seats first. (i personally hover above public toilet seats - heh.)