It's now November. A lovely time of year when there's anticipation of the holiday season coming up and a sudden rain after a nice warm weekend.
It has been a wonderful month with huge achievements for Bing Bing. She has now successfully toilet trained. Oh I thought this day would never come...
I've been trying and trying for god knows how long. I heard and seen other kids are successfully toilet trained when they're like 19 months, 22 months, 26 months and what not. I became a little impatient with Bing Bing though I knew she wasn't ready. We had many painful accidents and it was going nowhere. Bing Bing just didn't get it even though she repeated every time "I want to go to the potty" when I asked "Next time, when you want to go pee pee, what are you gonna say to me?"
One afternoon, she was crying endlessly which was very unlike her. Alan and I couldn't figure out why she was crying so angrily. About 5 minutes later there was an accident and we realised she finally wanted to tell us that she wanted to go to pee. We just couldn't get it and she was too shy to tell us straight up.
From that afternoon onwards, she tells us every single time she wants to go to the potty. Almost no accident. At school it took one (long hard) day for her to be fully trained after that. I thought I had never been so happy. Good bye nappies and nappy rash.
Every morning she wakes up, goes to the toilet, does her pee, wipes her bottom, flushes the toilet, pulls up her undies and pants, washes her hands, brushes her teeth and gets ready for breakfast. I couldn't ask for me. It was like a dream in no time. She has finally grown, really grown up at 2.5 years old.
Bing Bing has also made a huge achievement in her speaking. She now reasons and explains. She doesn't just talk and repeat. She clearly explains and expresses herself with 'reasons'.
"Mom, I don't want to go to sleep now because I want to go downstairs with Daddy. You go to sleep now because you are tired otay?"
"Mom, what is Partha doing? What is he cooking? His noodles are very spicy and yucky. I don't like it. Do you like it Mommy?"
"Mom, what is Christmas? what is friendly? Am I a friendly girl?"
"Mom, you're not a boy because you're a girl, like me."
"Mom, you drive the car so Daddy can seat with me."
"Mom, don't drive the car, it's Daddy's, Daddy's on the bus to pick me up."
"No, I don't want to ăn khoai, I want to eat some soup please. It's yummy."
It has been a tsunami of conversations like that. One morning, Bing Bing wakes up before us and knocks on our door.
"Mommy, Daddy, can I come in with you guys?"
"Otay dear. Come on in. Hop on the bed, it's pretty cold." She lied down between us and says:
"Actually Daddy, it is about my biscuits. Actually where is my biscuit? Can I have my biscuits?"
She remembered that about a week before she gave Alan a bag of biscuits for him to hold on while she played. She never got it back...
Another afternoon she was wondering around the neighbourhood, leaving us at the door and said:
"Guys, wait for me here otay? I'll be right back."
"Guys, stop following me. I want to go by myself, where're your manners?"
Oh yes, the most popular saying these days is "No, I want to do it all by myself" and yes she does almost everything by herself. She washes the dishes every day. She of course eats by herself, reads by herself, plays by herself, takes off puts on clothes by herself, cutting, spreading butter on toasts by herself and how can I not mention, she does toilet by herself. She loves it. "I did it, Mommy! I did it all by myself". She says that with her proudest smile of all. I'm a proud mother.
I was telling her that a baby is growing inside my tummy and that she soon will have a real baby in her arms to hug, to kiss and to love. She understands it right away. She kisses and hugs my tummy where she thinks the baby is. She called the baby 'dida'. She asked me if dida can play for a while in her tummy too. She was screaming on top of her lung knowing that there's a baby coming. I was so very happy to see that. After more than a year of struggling to conceive the little baby is now within me. Bing Bing will have a little brother and sister that she's been longing for a while now. I could tell she was ready so long ago. It's gonna be great. I pray.
