Drinking from a cup

A 'crisis' seems to have happened. Ever since the IT family came back from Germany, Iden refused to drink any plain water. Previously, he could finish a few bottles of plain water a day (about 600 ml). But since we were back, he simply didn't want to touch any plain water! We tried changing his bottle, using a straw, and many other ways, but he just would not want. We even made him sit at a naughty corner if he didn't finish his water. Guess what? He rather sat there and stared at the bottle of water, instead of drinking it. I think he takes over Imama's stubbornness :-) I was getting worried. We all know that not enough water intake will cause dehydration and it can be dangerous. As it is, Iden was showing signs that he had not been drinking enough. His poo was hard, his lips were red and he had heat rashes. To make matters worst, he perspires a lot. As a last resort, we gave him a cup to try. To our surprise, he actually drank from the cup! Of course as a start, he didn't know how to sip the water and swallow it. His clothes would be wet after a small cup of water. But practice makes perfect.

After some trying, I can say that Iden has mastered the skill of drinking from a cup (though occasional spillage is still unavoidable). And lately, we introduced Ribena to him (a tiny drop of Ribena with 180ml of water - very very diluted) and he is taking it pretty well. Iden is back to his water drinking days and the 'crisis' has been successfully contained.

Phew, what a relief!

Mother Goose

Iden received this set of Mother Goose series of books and VCD as a birthday present in January. They have been put aside at a corner and have only been given a new lease of life lately.

The Mother Goose series is an educational programme for very young children. It contains children songs like Humpty Dumpty and Rub-a-dub-dub. The colourful images and catchy tunes must have caught Iden's attention so much that he suddenly becomes interested in the books and VCD. His daily ritual currently is to get ipapa or I to watch the VCD with him, read the books and sing the tunes to him. Well, I suppose it is a good pastime for him at the moment. After watching the disc several times, Iden is able to learn something out of it. He is imitating the soldiers to march (to the tune of the Grand old Duke of York) and following the children to cover his nose when sneezing (called ati-shoo in the song, Ring-a-ring of roses). He has learnt some new words like down, dumpty, pop, bunny (though he pronounces it as money).

It is amazing how much he has learnt just by watching the disc. Sooner or later, he will get bored with Mother Goose... looks like we may have to source for new VCDs and books for him soon.

Is he singing?

Ipapa and I notice that Iden is singing lately. Can't be? Well, maybe the following events can prove that he is indeed singing? Ipapa introduced Iden to Schnappi CD since December last year - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schnappi. We will try to let him listen to the CD when he is in the car. Iden has this CD to accompany him most of the time during his car journeys. The second track in the CD is called Mahlzeit (http://www.amazon.de/exec/obidos/clipserve/B0007NOL5A001002/303-3035901-7408234). In this song, there is mention of the phrase 'Ma Ma' (Schnappi is calling out to his mummy). During one of the usual journeys back from his grandparents place, Iden was listening to the disc again. Then out of the blue, when Mahlzeit came on, he went 'Ma Maaaaaa". Both ipapa and I looked at each other and at that instant, we realised he knew the song! He was actually copying Schnappi to call his mummy in a high pitch and off he went "Ma Maaaaaa". It was a pleasant surprise to us. Then on a few other occasions when we were listening to YES 93.3, he was also trying to sing along with the singers. Of course he could not string the words together, but he would hum along when there are phrases like "la, la, la" or 'oh, oh, oh". And if you ask him to sing now, he will go "na, na.....". So.... can we term this as singing then?

Ba Jie - Iden's TV 'friend'

Iden has a TV friend by the name of Ba Jie. Everyday without fail, he will ask ipapa or me to switch on the TV and let him watch Ba Jie. He will go 'Ba Jie, Ba Jie' non stop until we turn on the TV. And the moment we switch on the MTV, he will sit still and enjoy watching his friend. How does Ba Jie look like? Here is his picture: