Almost weaned toddler

It has been 5 days since Maeve has not nursed. A good sign. I haven't needed to resort to chilli or bittergourd juice to make her repulsed by nursing, all i've done is major DISTRACTION.
"mummy, milk milk! please! milk milk!"
"darling, look! mummy's wearing trousers on her head!"
(bursts of giggles with attempts to knock it over and put said trousers on own head)
OR making the alternative sound like its the most exciting ever.
"mummy milk milk!"
"oh wow! look! its SMOO milk, its SOOO YUMMY!Yum! Yum! All for you! say thank you."
" thanks mummy" and promptly holds packet of milk in joyful gratitude.
If all that fails,
"mummy milk milk please" (in tears, pulling at my top)
"there's no more, all gone, but you can lick mummy's tummy. its the same".
(lick lick. sob. lick. sob. slobber all over. sob.)

I'm a big big girl in a big big world....

She's all grown up now, at least, going by how she makes her requests known quite explicitly. At the same time, i am pushing her a little to grow up too. we've recently bought the little munchkin a potty. her very own potty to sit on, read on, much snacks on etc and we tried to put her on it after lunch every day. so far so good. she's "produced"results, although she seems to have a penchant for standing over the potty to poo. just yesterday, the cheeky one tricked grandpa by saying "poo-poo" and holding her diaper frantically while grandpa gave a sniff which resulted in her bursting into giggles and wriggling away. gotcha! I've also decided to move her to her own room in a bid to wean her off nursing. so for the first time, maeve slept in her room with my helper who volunteered to sleep with her to help ease her into independence. needless to say, i didn't sleep much, wringing my hands and distracting myself to keep from going into her room, scooping her up and bringing her back to my bed. i missed her so terribly. instead of her little fingers fingering mine, i held much bigger fingers--the hubby's. i guess comforting, but not quite the same. my helper said that it'll take about 5 days before she forgets about nursing completely. let's hope it works.

open thy golden orb!

the little princess has a dirty mouth. really. she doesn't want to brush her teeth and would scream and kick and close the golden mouth shut if i approach her with a toothbrush. she'll see it coming and go, "oh-no! no-no mummy!"so now, i'm going to try peer pressure, the whole family will enthusiastically brush their teeth, making it like its the most exciting activity ever. let's see how that goes. can't threaten her with her teeth falling out as she's too young to grasp that concept. sigh. will she ever have a clean mouth?

happy new year!

Maeve and her che-che go a-walking!

Toddler psychology 101

1. If it is yours, defend it.
2. if it is not yours, plan a hostile take-over, so that it will be yours, then refer to 1.Hostile take-over methods can include the same ones found on face-book: chomp, bite, poke, tickle etc.
3. If you are in trouble with an adult figure, burst into fountains of tears first. It will distract said adult from scolding you.
4. When the above doesn't work, try showing off a variety of newly acquired skills: acting cute, pointing to various body parts and telling everyone what they are, begging "please mummy please" coupled with "cheeky eyes" perfected to an art form. now, that almost always works.

badly behaved princess

What does one do with a little spitfire who pulls hair when she doesn't get what she wants and does the pre-emptive cry before you scold her? i didn't realise that the terrible twos have landed on me prematurely! Maeve is now in the habit of fighting with her cousin every day. Without fail. the harried grandma reports every evening that the little one is very fierce and defends whatever she is holding on to with great passion (or stubborness rather), which means pulling hair, pushing or screaming for help. For some reason, she obeys me at home and when i give her a firm look, she responds. BUT..in the gramps, it is a different story, my angel transforms and the horns sprout instantly. so disciplining her there is a futile endeavour. The family now calls her "drama queen", of course, making loud asides of "i wonder where she got that from" wink wink, snigger, snigger. sigh...

The 3rd party

For a week or so now, we have been changing our sleeping arrangements a little, so that everyone gets a piece of me. so intsead of the little one in the centre, I am. Maeve gets to hold my hand to sleep, so does the hubby. Although hubby still wants to kick her out of bed by march. i realise the difficulty is as much caused by me as her. i am ambivalent about it as i do like her little body beside mine and her breath tickling my arm.
Today i went to work early, which meant that i had to creep out of bed and ask Lea to take my place as i left the house, praying that Maeve won't wake up in shock and confusion to find mummy morphed into Aunty Lea.I still wonder if that is a wise thing to do, to give up my mornings once or twice a week with maeve, in order to find my own sense of fulfilment. as i struggle with this, Bern reminds me that i'll be a very grumpy mummy if i have to face Maeve 24hrs with no break. So what's right, what's wrong...i'm still seeking answers.