Potty training success finally

I went with the advice to only do it when she was ready which happened on the 29 January when she was only 22 months old. She said she wanted to use the toilet and I very excitedly plopped her on it.

Then we went to Lisbon the month after and she successfully told me every single time she wanted to use the toilet for a number two and I thought,"Yes! We are getting somewhere!"

All this while she never really got the fact that wees should also be performed on the toilet. This came after many accidents and debates between us over whether she was ready or not.

Three weeks ago we took this to the nursery. It is now eight months since we began and our haphazard approach was obviously leading to half hearted results. We left it with the professionals to try. At first we received reports of,"your daughter, she is stubborn. Clever but passive aggressive." Apparently if she didn't want to go to the toilet and they tried to coax her she would lay on the floor and play dead so they had no choice short of dragging her. Then two minutes later she'd have an 'accident'. We talked about a plan and decided to just go hard on her and slap on big girl pants. No nappies from now on at nursery we said. First week started off with five accidents and ended with three. Our second week we went from three to wait for it....completely dry on the Friday! I never thought we'd get there but we did. 29th Jan to 11th August for her to 'get it'. How do people train in three days I don't understand. Maybe we have a slow learner, plus we have a lazy parenting style.

Nevertheless! Success! Thank you to all the nursery staff who gave her endless encouragement and even built circle time activities around discussing potty training. Thank you for letting them role play potty training with their dollies. Thank you for all the potty training books. My daughter now thinks she is Princess Polly having finished her training and used up the last star in the sticker book.

Well. Let's see how we take it from here eh?







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Why my husband will make a happier mother than me

I have been thinking about this issue for a long while. It all began two years ago when I was off for a year on maternity leave and stressed to the max over the health and wellbeing of my little one therefore running myself to the ground not sleeping whilst keeping wholesome home cooked meals on the table regularly, a spotless house and conquering the laundry. All this while I made sure I was doing enough to stimulate my child's development with sensory, swimming and music classes and play dates. Just all standard mother stuff really. I don't see any other mum's that don't do the same whilst keeping themselves and their family together.

But from my husband's perspective (and this led to many fights in those sleep deprived months) he would do things much differently and that it was my choice to do things 'the hard way' and therefore I can only blame myself if I was stressed and unfulfilled at the end of the year. Mind you, he was the one that got our daughter to start crawling and take her first steps so I don't think it is that he doesn't care about our child's development at all. Rather he weighs the marginal benefit against the physical toll it takes to complete similar tasks that I perform and deem them missable. He would rather prioritise his wellbeing and his happiness after knowing that our child’s important needs are met. I elaborate further.

On sleep:
I would use the time my baby sleeps to try to clean the house and prep meals so that we can still have our regular pre-baby mealtimes and nice clean flat. I would also not let our child cry it out so would always go to her side when she wailed but if we agreed it was his turn, he would turn on his side and let her cry till I got up to tend to her instead. During afternoon naps, he would take a nap too whilst she slept. I think I’d like to try that with my next child. If he came home to a dirty flat and I requested takeout for dinner because I took a nap instead that day, I wonder what he would think, but actually, maybe he doesn’t think anything. Nobody should as long as our family’s wellbeing is put first.

On homecooked meals:
The other day we were at a one year old’s birthday party at the family home where they had two kids under the age of four and everything at the party was home cooked and handmade. The level of effort was unbelievable. I surmised that they achieved that because the husband is able to cook delicious party presentable food. I came home late from work two days later and my husband requested I picked up pizza on the way home because he didn’t even want to eat the leftovers I had planned to make up for our dinner that night. I wanted to fume over it and be upset over the unnecessary expenditure when I could still pull together a quick substantial home cooked meal, and really I thought if Mr.HEA could cook, he could very easily stir fry and reheat the rice and leftovers and dinner would be ready as I stepped through the door as he was already at home. This however, would not be the man I chose to be my husband and my life would probably have to pay with him having another weakness if the lack of cooking skills and his preference for fast food wasn’t his.

On a clean house:
When we moved into our flat and it was brand new two years ago I endeavoured to keep it all as brand new and shiny as I could. I wiped down all the surfaces thinking how sick my child could get if she ate something off the floor that she found. The bathroom was void of mould and scum and I wiped down every night. I cleaned the oven regularly. I mopped the floor weekly. Mr.HEA will just stick to his standard chores, make sure our garbage isn’t smelly and toys aren’t posing threats to our safety around the clearways of our home, he is happy to take a seat and relax himself in the evenings and weekends. As soon as I got pregnant and became increasingly tired as well as more averse to bleach and oven cleaning chemicals, I found myself relaxing the standards a bit. I think the last time I mopped was a month ago. I don’t even iron Mr.HEA’s shirts anymore, I relinquished that role half a year ago. I use the oven every week but I only clean it when I feel like it now. The bathroom has scum, but no mould yet, I clean it once a week now. Mr HEA helps me fold laundry and I don’t refold it so that it sits neatly in our wardrobes. I just shove it in when I put it away and close the doors shut hoping that they don’t fall out the next time I open the doors again. And actually, with the amount of time I spend now playing with my daughter and catching up on sleep or just resting instead of whirling around the flat cleaning, our family has not fallen ill for a very long time despite the temperamental weather.

So if we as a family lived according to his rules and standards instead of mine, we’d not be falling apart or falling sick. We wouldn’t be any less perfect and we wouldn’t be unhappy if I didn’t do any of the above in the ‘right’ way. I think actually we’d be the happiest we’d ever been. Happy Mummy, Happy family. So in the pursuit of happiness, I shall relax and try to be more like my husband in the next year.

Reading with your little ones

Mr.HEA and I loved reading growing up. We don't read books for pleasure very much anymore these days admittedly. I probably average about 2-5 books a year these days and the husband opts for audio books instead. Our reading material mostly consists of journals, blogs and the e-newspapers. So it was by utter fluke that we ended up with our little one loving books as much as she does.

I adore this hobby of hers. Starting very early on with her just saying random sounds and words of the picture books to now fully narrating the pictures or repeating the stories which she has memorised word for word. She spends at least an hour a day reading and is always pestering us to read a book to her at all times of the day. On the potty, at meal times, bed time (she sleeps with a book instead of a teddy), whilst on the pram her hunger for stories knows no bounds.

I remember my horror when I first picked up a baby book to 'read' to her when she was four months old. There were no words! I had to google what to do in that instance and learnt quickly that I had to narrate the pictures using as many descriptive words or stories or sounds to keep things interesting for her.

We then graduated to toddler books when she was 1- 1.5 years old with very simple stories to help build her attention span.

Then around the time she turned two I bought her a set of early readers books earlier this year and discovered that even though the books are wordier, she really enjoys learning new words as well as listening out for the vocabulary she already knew. We emphasised the words she understood. Paraphrased into her level of understanding sometimes and would even sing her songs if it related to the story or event we were narrating. This seems to really help captivate her and now, a few months down the track she is devouring story books like Winnie the Pooh and Grimm brothers' fairy tales. I think she likes looking at the pictures more. She is always studying the pictures and describing them when she 'reads' by herself. Over the weekend I got really amused when she pointed at a 'multicultural foods' book she has and said, "Here's the Baba Ghanoush on a plate,"

So yes I swell with pride when every educator's feedback to me has been how amazing her attention span is that she can sit quietly and read. Or how much they find she loves books. Now I know she isn't the best at finger dexterity or balance. She isn't the fastest at running or greatest at climbing either. And my cousins in Asia tell me that their three year olds are reading and writing full sentences in school and six year olds are reading full novels which I simply cannot see my LO doing just quite yet. I am still working on getting her to draw with purpose which she is getting better at, but I am terrified at the prospect of teaching her how to write because she appears to be left handed and neither Mr.HEA and I are.

My only way around this is to let that worry resolve itself when the time comes. I will enjoy our present as it is and the warm fuzzy feeling that comes from my LO saying to me after I finish reading yet another Grimm brother's fairy tale to her, " I like this one mummy". It's her way of showing me that after three attempts of reading the same story to her, she finally understood it.










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Growing up too fast.

Whilst listening to Disney songs, "this is the bear song!" I say excitedly having recognised the tune. "Bare necessities mummy." She corrects me.

Somewhere on instagram I read that these years are the longest shortest time and I totally agree. Amidst dealing with teething fevers and her obsession with flicking my earlobes for comfort inducing sleepless nights, twenty minute potty training sessions spent in the toilet always happening mid dinner time and the constant whining for chocolate treats as well as thwarting her cheeky sass I can't help admiring the little person we have brought into the world. Not even six months ago she only begun saying two to three words together and now she is using sentences, plurals, pronouns as well as contradicting us with opposites. The most fulfilling thing is to see her purposefully trying to use more structured mandarin sentences with me as I have always worried about whether she'd be able to pick the language up if she was only introduced to it via myself.

In the throes of growing a human being inside me and raising one outside, I find myself slightly apprehensive of our future. I admit that I was hesitant finding out I will have another girl. It is a blessing I thought I didn't deserve as people tell me how close the sisters will be and how caring girls are to their parents compared to boys. But at the same time I feared the raging emotions and hormones, I worry about the predators of our sick world and most of all I worry about whether I'd be able to be the best example of a woman to them for them to aspire to. I know now I have to be stronger, better and more focused with my life as my girls will need me to be. The perfectionist in me needs to be balanced with being able to have fun. The rules I set need to be reasonable and considered, adaptable to our modern world whilst keeping to religious and traditional values. I just want my girls to be God-fearing, decent human beings with a sense of responsibility and caring individuals but never losing sight of the goodness that can be found in this world and enjoying it to their fullest, is that at all possible?

I shall make it my mission.

I find myself growing up too fast too. I got my first decent bonus this year in my whole life and other than buying some summer fitting maternity wear that I so desperately need and a pair of Aldo black ballerina flats, I sensibly decided to stow the rest away for a rainy day. I tried to find a bag to splurge it on but even the thought of replacing my fraying Longchamp bag was a little indulgent in my eyes. I didn't bother shopping for more frocks or toys for the new Bub, instead I find myself making plans for our forever home. But I don’t know what this all means yet. We can’t decide what is the best course of plan and nobody that really matters to us seem to mind whichever decision we make, to stay or to go/ to keep or to sell. So the main thing to remind myself to prioritise is our little family unit’s wellbeing and happiness. Not to try to overachieve or aspire for a home that is too hard to maintain nor to please anyone else but just us.

The horrid thing about living in the social media enabled sharing society we are today is the incessant need to be pinterest/ Instagram worthy. I had a Matcha sundae for lunch today. It was pretty and totally gonna garner likes if I had taken a picture and posted it on my Instagram. But I wanted to dig in as soon as I received it. No time to stop and take a picture. So I have no ‘evidence’ that it had happened. But my belly is happy and my thirst in this summer heat quenched. So the grown up me enjoyed the moment and acknowledges it happened. Much like the home that I aspire to build. Lovely refuge for my girls and man and a hospitable place always open to guests, with food in the pantry. That’s all it needs to be.

How to travel with a Toddler in Europe

As long as you don't get bored easily, and are not looking for excitement, travelling in Europe with an infant/ toddler is entirely possible without necessarily going to an all-inclusive resort.

The golden rule is keep the itinerary simple with as few accommodation changes as possible and plan just one big ticket activity to achieve each day.

The other travel mantra I stand by? Travel light and be prepared to buy foreign products for your baby. That's it. Armed with these travel principles, we've travelled with my 2 year old now to Burgundy, Rome, Ireland, Sardinia and Lisbon. We've also done multiple road trips around U.K., Hong Kong, Malaysia (twice) and Australia but as those trips were not overseas/ family visits we've never encountered the same challenges as travelling in Europe other than the multiple long haul flights.

I know I am not an expert on this and we generally have an easy kid who loves the experience of exploring something different or new with us. So if you are interested, I'll elaborate further.

Prepping Your Kids and helping them enjoy the trip

Plan and research ahead of the trip. The internet with its plethora of blogs and forums are full of helpful hints on what to expect. I also like asking our new friends who were locals of the places we'll be visiting on their recommendations and advice.

Then I formulate a little game plan that could involve:
- Introducing new books or little toys that relate to where you are visiting.
- I've started my little one on learning the flags of the different places we visit and she goes berserk whenever she sees a flag she recognises (Mainly the union jack as we are in U.K.)
-Teaching them the local language. My little one loved saying Ola to people in Lisbon having learnt Spanish in her nursery.

Once at the location, I love seeing the new city from her eyes, from the colourful buildings and the various different modes of transportation in each new place (she loves comparing the local buses to our double decker red buses in London) to pointing out any item of interest to her such as a windmill or animal sculptures or even shop signs when she was learning the alphabet. We describe the items using words within her vocabulary as it grew too in each trip and she always found the interaction made the journey that much more engaging.

Other locals with children love striking conversations with you more too when you have a young one of your own. Our beach neighbour in Sardinia very happily shared all her toddler's toys with ours when the two started playing together. This is usually a lovely way to compare parenting notes with a different culture and I'm quick to note that sleep deprivation is a universal issue with raising children.

Food, Naps and Supplies.
Food - If your child is still exclusively breastfeeding as was my experience in Dijon/ Burgundy, this is the least stress free travel period. I just had to plan the car journeys around feed stops and be prepared to change her anywhere or let her sleep anywhere. When she grew older, my relaxed rule became that children should be ready to eat what's in front of them, she eats what we eat. Granted she has no known allergies and we did stick to staples in most places; it is usually yoghurt, fruit (fresh or dried), bread and cheese that we always gravitate to in any new city we visit. The fun part is trying the local varieties of these and my toddler has loved the Italian ricotta, the Sardinian flatbread (Pane Carasau), light flaky Portugese pasteis, fresh Mediterranean fruit and even grilled squid as well as various varieties of pizza and pasta.

My one saving grace travelling in Europe is the availability of ready made formula packed in portion sized cartons or bottle so no more warming up bottles, asking for hot water at restaurants etc. Between the ages of 1-2 we just always brought with us cartons of long life milk and fed her that on demand. This meant that I didn't have to stress if she didn't particularly enjoy the meals we'd ordered as she'd always have a supplement.

Naps - My relaxed rule here is that children should be comfortable sleeping in strange beds/ environments. I didn't stress about putting her in a dark closet so that she wouldn't wake (although my husband still fondly remembers her harassing me from her cot in our Manchester hotel room). We co slept everywhere else and mostly the supplied cots were more used as play pens during our stay.

We let her nap anywhere (In a carrier or stroller or car seat or even on a towel at the beach in Sardinia) and anytime that suited her. Sometimes it was a long nap (the whole trip in the Vatican City) and sometimes it was short but we didn't stress it and didn't force her to keep to a strict bedtime. This meant that we could even stay out till 9 p.m. sometimes which is usually when the European cities have dinner in summer time.

Supplies - I pack light and tend to pack just enough supplies to last us the travel leg and one day at the destination. Then my priority upon touchdown has always been to seek out the local supermarket or pharmacy to stock up on nappies, formula and snacks. This is handy if you asked locals for the localised brands in advance although I have found that the major brands are typically quite prevalent across all of the major European cities. My favourite shopping experience has to be coming across tubs of packaged Plasmon horse meat baby food in Rome. I have an Italian friend who told me they do feed their children horse and other choice game meats, but I'd thought it was lost in translation until I saw it with my very own eyes.

We'd typically only have a reclining lightweight stroller and carrier with us and not bother bringing other things such as a travel cot or baby bath (it was either the adult bath tub or a shower with no soap for the trip)or car seat as we'd either borrow or rent those things off the accommodation we were at or make do with whatever resources we did have available to us. I found that most restaurants/cafes in Europe where we visited don’t have safe baby seats. They have high chairs with no leg harness so our little one could slip through. We fortunately brought along a portable cloth wraparound thing to tie to a seat and actually found this very handy to have even in hotel rooms where we might need to convert a normal chair into a baby friendly seat for feeding (Ages 6 months to 13 months depending on how mobile your little one is, Ours didn't walk or climb till 14 months).

It goes without saying then if you've read this far that my last tip is on flexing your usual routines and habits. If the bub is tired, she will sleep. If she is hungry she will eat. We likely spent a bit more on better accom and taxis on our travels with her than if we were to travel on our own, but it is balanced by us seeking local taverns/ pubs or family run restaurants that are less fancy a.k.a less pricey for food. She is also at an age where she doesn't get bored too easily yet but we'd still limit the amount of galleries, ancient ruins and museums we'd visit per trip. It is unrealistic to expect that you may be able to enjoy a full tour or read through the information packs on each exhibit, so weigh that up before you pay a lot in entrance fees.

That's it really. Travelling with little ones make them happy and open minded about the world. That in its own is reward enough for me to keep at it even when I don't relax the whole holiday. So much of a reward that we've upped the challenge to include one last babymoon in Santorini before I stop flying for a while. Pregnant in the height of summer and navigating cliff side cities with an active 2.5 year old will be interesting I am sure but we didn't want the easy way out and pick a 'family-friendly' island. So pardon us if you are a honeymooner in Oia at that time of the year. We hope we don't put you off starting a family with the antics we may get up to.






































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