Hunter. Oh Hunter! How to sum up your 2 year old update/progress in just one blog post?

My delightful, charming, willful, maddening 2 year old.

My absolute darling and my first-born child.

The one that, from birth, was very kind to us as new parents.. willingly and quickly sleeping through the night, ate well, had a delightfully laid-back and placid personality… and generally made us think “Hey! This parenthood business ain’t that hard”.

LOL.

That changed once he hit ~18 months. Bring on the Terrible Twos. Wow. I wasn’t sure what happened to my angel child.. who was angelic at times, but could turn into a devil in a SPLIT SECOND. Sometimes I wasn’t quite sure (and this still happens now) if I was supposed to discipline immediately, or better not to bring attention to it (negative reinforcement and all) and ignore him. We still don’t have the answers.

Anyhoodle, onward-ho with stuff about Hunter:

Temperament: He’s a vivacious, extremely talkative, outgoing child…… at home. In a space where he’s familiar, he owns it. He has a hilarious sense of humour, is incredibly cheeky, and just makes us laugh with his silly antics and infectious laughter. Outside and with people he’s unfamiliar with, he’s reserved and quiet. This extends to playschool, where I’m sure he’s going to win the Most Bullied At School award. He hangs back, lets other kids step all over him (ie. snatch his stuff, shove him aside, etc), and is the quiet observer. This is the exact opposite of my own personality, so I find this endlessly frustrating to witness – I JUST WANT TO FIGHT HIS BATTLES! But I know I must not, because he will find his own way in this world, and all I can do is give him guidance.

 

Eating: Oh man. Source of all stress. This has easily taken off a good couple of years off my lifespan. Best word to sum up his eating? ERRATIC. He picks at food like a little bird. Very very little passes his lips, and he is so thin compared to how gigantic he was as a baby. Sometimes I get so scared by how little he eats, yet he still survives. Mum and/or I cook him the best food, and often he’ll chuck it right back in our faces. He even went through a phase where he would only eat pureed food. He was the only toddler I knew that ate baby food!! To give him credit, he still eats steamed fish, tofu, egg, avocado, fruits (all his fave foods). And of course all those carbs, which every other kid loves too. Apart from that? Barely anything else. For this reason, we withhold candies/chocolates/fried foods almost entirely – because if he gets a bit of that, it’s all over. He’ll eat nothing else for that meal and scream blue murder the entire time. I don’t have a solution as to how to solve his eating habits. We just wait in hope that one day he’ll grow out of if – after all, surely he won’t be 18 and I’ll still be trying desperately to get him to eat a bit of food. Right??

Sleeping: Dream sleeper. Thank goodness. He sleeps by 8PM and goes for 12 hours without waking. Naps for around 2 hours after lunch. Will nap easily in any stroller when I’m out and about, or at home in his bed. I couldn’t ask for more. Yes I am totally gloating here, so sue me! His poor eating and temper tantrums make me want to shoot myself in the head, so I HAVE to feel good about something, right?? 😛

Speaking: Chatterbox. I would say his speech is more advanced than boys his age, but on par with girls his age. Guess it’s because he hangs out with mostly little girl friends 😉 I love hearing him form his own proper sentences and all those words spilling out of his mouth. He’s very good with music, and will sing accurately along to his fave songs. It’s amazing how quickly kids learn!

Interests: Vehicles, specifically trains. What else is new? It is his #1 passion at the expense of doing little else in terms of play or creative stuff. He actually likes inspecting his toys to see how they move, and is the most detailed-oriented kid I have EVER seen. He’ll study little objects that move with great fascination, and loves any game/toy that requires lots of dexterity (which he’s good at). I see him being an engineer (loves seeing how things work) or a scientist (fascinated with fiddling with things and has the quiet personality to work by himself in a lab) or a construction worker (super into construction stuff, haha!).

Toilet training: He’s a good little pooper (LOL). He’ll sit on his potty and do his poo. Nowhere near for pee though, but I guess it’s because we haven’t tried yet. I’ve noticed his diaper is often still dry after his nap for up to half hour afterwards, so I’m probably going to start taking him to potty a few mins after his nap. Only problem is that we’re out, I obviously don’t have the potty with me! Hmmm…

 

For his birthday today, we had a fabulous lunch at Tung Lok. We decided on a yumcha lunch cos it’s fun and Hunter likes to pick at his food. He ate pretty well, thankfully!

 

 

 

 

 

 

We then took him for a little treat to the Oceanarium in Sentosa. He loved it! There’s something just so mesmerizing about watching fish.. and this newly opened aquarium is impressive. Highly recommended if you have kids!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And so, just like that, we have a bonafide little boy on our hands. He means everything to me, and just hearing him utter the words “Mama.. cuddle” is enough to melt my heart. Motherhood sure ain’t easy (<– understatement), but I wouldn’t give it up for anything.

 

REMINDER: the chance to win a Zhai ballet-wrap top ends in just two days! It takes just a minute or two to be in the running.. so come and have a go 🙂