I started this entry 3 weeks ago and finally I have the time to finish it up. You know how busy we are and that is why the New Year Resolution is in place.
Our New Year Resolution is all about train, train and train, so we (the parents) can lessen our stress.
1) Train Alvin to go to potty: we have success to some degree - Alvin knows the concept of peeing in the toilet but he would only tell us when he is "in the mood". Of course, he is not that much in the training mood in the daycare. Sigh...
2) Train Alvin to sleep on his own: Alvin had been spoiled ever since the grandparents came to help us. Either Dad or Mom had to sleep with him and he would use every excuse (e.g. I need to pee, or my skin is itchy, or I have running nose) not to sleep until 11pm. For that reason, the parents didn't even have time on their own. One day, Mom was all stressed out and she took the liberty of letting Alvin to time out facing the wall for more than 2 hours. Poor Alvin, who had never seen Mom being so mad, quietly standing in the corner of our bedroom and didn't even dare to cry. The best part is, from then on, he sleeps on his own. No more co-sleeping! That works for me, haha..
3) Train Alvin to try new foods: Alvin is a picky eater, period. The parents spent most of the time trying to encourage him to eat more variety but without any success. He would go on for a month eating very little. After taking Chinese herbal medicine and giving him more water and letting him exercise more, he is doing much better now (crossing our fingers!). There were some good days that we even worried that he ate too much! Isn't that wonderful?
4) Train Mason to sleep on his own: Mason's sleeping habit wasn't any better. He would wake up every 1 hour at night crying to be held. Between Alvin and Mason, Mom only got 5 hours sleep at night, and it was for several months straight. With success in training Alvin, Mom made the announce one day to train Mason ("cold turkey" method to let him cry out). That was a huge success!!! He now sleeps through the night for straight 10-11 hours. Our routine for Mason is to take a warm bath, drink up the milk bottle, read several books (for him, it is more biting down the books than reading books) and sing a bedtime melody. He would snooze off within one minute!
5) Train Mason to crawl: we are still in the process of training him to crawl. He now knows how to swim using arms and legs, does some backward crawling. We hope within a month, he can master the skill!
6) Train Alvin to brush his teeth: Don't remember how many times we got mad bites just to wipe his teeth and gum. But, there is always a bitter part and then a sweeter part of everything. Now, Alvin loves to brush his own teeth, for extended minutes! He would carry his stool (very heavy wooden stool) to the bathroom, stand up in front of the mirror, turn on the faucet to fill his cup, then dip in his toothbrush and brush his teeth in and out!
Hope you will find this entry to be helpful, not disturbing (by our "cruel" ways of training our boys). :)
Happy New Year everyone!
