parenting – Page 17

Terrible Two: Child Discipline

I believe that Ayex is a good girl. It just so happens that she wants our full attention when we’re around since this only happens during weekends. And we do everything to make that happen. We do our best to focus our attention to her even when we have other things to mind apart from her.

But there are times when she really gets to our nerves being the terrible two that she is. Last night was one of them.

She has not eaten a decent meal the whole day. At Timezone Trinoma, she kept on insisting at playing at those that have candies as the prizes. She even want to swipe the power card herself (such a techie little kid!)! She didn’t want to walk and asked to be carried most of the time. I’m just thankful that she behaved well while she had her hair cut.

At home, after I fixed our things from our LP weekend stay, I called her for dinner. As I arrange her high-chair she came out running and shouting at the same time. She was insisting that she doesn’t want to eat and I should return her chair. She is crying and shouting! I forced her to sit in her high chair and told her that I’ll only feed her milk after she has eaten her dinner. After 3 spoons of rice, she stood up and faced the TV. We asked her thrice to sit down again and finish her food. She began to cry again, took some rice from her plate and threw it in the table. That was it!

After that, I took her from the chair, brought her inside our room and locked it! I swear, I was so hungry but I couldn’t eat because I can hear her loud cry. Hindi marunong matakot si Ayex kahit kanino! And I fear that she’ll be like that forever! I locked her in the room twice. On the second time, she stopped crying while I talk to her from the outside.

I was expecting to have the usual mommy-guilt I feel after scolding her. I didn’t for the first time. It was probably an affirmation that I was right. I have to discipline her myself. And I can do that without spanking. I don’t want to instill fear to her, I just want her to be disciplined.

Ayex the picky-eater…

… is rediscovering vegetables. Hooooooray!!!!!!

It all started when I cooked Caldereta. I showed her the potatoes I was frying and told her that those were french fries. During the meal, she ate those and some green peas, which I introduced to her as bilog-bilog (circles).

Last night, Mon and I were having dinner after we went to the hospital. She climbed to me. I thought she was going to ask for milk. When she saw the green peas in my plate, she asked for some. She asked me to put some more bilog-bilog on my plate for her. She did not hesitate to eat the diced carrot and potato that I put in the spoon along with the green peas.

It was definitely a happy scene after coming from a heart break seeing my lola in the hospital.

Wish us luck that she continue to eat veggies and would expand to fruits also.

My Experiment was a Huge Success!

We’ve been noticing the past few weeks that Ayex refuses to wear panty or diaper after taking a bath or at night before she goes to bed. When we try to convince her to wear panty after taking a bath, she would throw tantrums and would cry a lot until you take off her panty. At night, the only time we’re able to put on her diaper properly is when she’s already asleep.

Last night, we had a good time playing pretend. We only stopped when she said Mommy, poopoo. After confirmation, I removed her diaper and panty and we both went to the bathroom. Yep, she’s now potty trained. I’ve been meaning to write about that since it started but there was so much work to do after the Holy Week. Ok, back to my experiment.

After cleaning up Ayex, I told her to go to the sala and ask Ate Liza, our helper, to put on her panty. I went back to the sala and found Ayex seating on the floor without panty. I told her Panty ka na kasi ung ipis nagapang sa floor. Gusto mo ba gapangan ng ipis yang pipi mo? After saying that, she still refused to wear her panty. So I told her lika dede na tayo para meme na kasi bukas mag train pa tayo. Yeah, she looks forward to riding the train on weekends.

While she feeds, I told her magdiaper ka na ha. She acts ups every time I say that so I said sige panty ka na lang muna. She agreed. I talked to her why she needed to wear the diaper when going to bed. I asked her kaya mo na ba sabihin kay Mommy na mag wiwi ka tulad nung ginagawa mo pag mag poopoo ka? Ayex answered me with um-um, which means yes. So I continued talking to her and said kasi alam mo pag nag wiwi ka sa bed, wala tayong tutulugan kasi basa. Pano na un? After a while, she’s asleep.

Mon then came to join us. I told him that I was thinking of letting Ayex sleep without the diaper for the night. I told him that we’ll stay on the spare foam first and if the experiment fails, we’ll go back to the bed. Mon set up our temporary bed then we transferred there. I still woke up occasionally to feed her when she asks for it. At one point, she kept on saying daddy. I tapped Mon, who is sleeping on our bed alone to wake him up and said Ayex is looking for him. He held Ayex by the hand and told her that he’s there. Ayex then said karga so Mon carried her. After a while, Ayex still refuses to be put down so I took her from Mon and cuddled her. That was 5am. Forty minutes later, my arms are already aching and I already sang about 30 nursery rhymes. Nauubusan na ako ng kakantahin! I woke up Mon and asked if we can switch. He took Ayex again. After a while, I heard Ayex’s voice saying laro! She’s fully awake by 6am!

Fully aware that Mon is still sleepy, I asked Ayex if she wants to go out for an early walk. She said pit, which means ligpit. She fixed her toys and brought them outside our room. At the sala, I found her standing still while Ate Liza is in front of her holding a rug and there was water on the floor.

One night down!