How we break his iPad habit

A couple months before our trip to Malaysia back in Feb 2013, we started introducing iPad to Gaven. We loaded the iPad up with Disney movies for him to watch. The reason was so that we can keep him occupied for the long flight to Malaysia. Like any kid, he loved his new entertainment. He was obsessed with it. We let him watch during breakfast, lunch and dinner. He would eat and watch the movies on the iPad on the dinner table. The other reason was so he would be so occupied watching the movies, that he would let us feed him anything. He would chew and swallow & watch iPad at the same time. It was an easy way to make sure he finished his food. Our mealtime was painless. No fussing and crying at dinner table. No refusing food. The downside was, we would have to feed him, which we’re ok with as long as we have a quiet meal time.

Watching iPad at meal time, would not touch his food. We have to feed him. Upside is, we can feed him anything, he would open his mouth.

The habit got so bad that he would ask for ipad at every single meal time. It’s almost like he doesn’t know what to do if he doesn’t have ipad over his meal. We knew we had to do something about it. A couple months ago, we bit the bullet and stop allowing him to watch ipad at mealtime. We told him the ipad was broken and we have to take it to the shop to fix. We switched it off so it wouldn’t light up when he tries to turn it on. He asked for it at every single meal time and we continued to tell him that the ipad is broken and we’re still trying to fix it. He whined and cried and fussed.

Ipadless first week- pushing food away, being a brat.

At mealtime, he didn’t know what to do at first without his ipad. He was playing with his food, utensils and wouldn’t sit still. He was being very difficult. It was hard, we can’t enjoy our meals. I started to bring pen and paper and would draw stuff to entertain him. That distracted him a little and slowly, after about a week, of ipadless, he stopped asking for it at every single meal time. He occasionally asked if the ipad is broken and we would say yes and he would drop it. We are so glad we’re able to break this bad habit of his. Our sacrifice is we won’t be able to use the iPad in front of him because it was supposed to be broken. We hide it so he can’t see it. Out of sight, out of mind. We would only use it after he goes to bed. When he stoped asking for it for almost a month, we slowly start using it in front of him and when he asked, we told him it won’t play movies. And he would just accept it without further questions.

Mom & Dad= 1, Gaven= 0

We win. :)      

San Diego Trip

We went to San Diego this past weekend. Took 1/2 day off work and started driving around 1+ by the time we’re ready to get on the road. We found a deal on Travelzoo for the Hilton at Torrey Pines. Seems like a good deal at the time. We booked it back it back in May. Unfortunately we don’t have a place to stay anymore this time around. Janet moved out of San Diego a couple months ago. So now, we need to find hotel deals every time we go to San Diego. We spent 2 nights at the hotel.

We arrived around 5 pm at the hotel due to bad traffic. Gaven and John spent some time at the pool before we headed out for dinner at La Jolla. We checked out some sea lions chilling at the La Jolla Cove, then checked ourselves in to an awesome seafood dinner there. Found a Groupon deal for the Crab Catcher. Great service and great food. It was a really good deal with the Groupon deal we got.

The next day, we spent all day at the Sea World. This was Gaven’s 3rd visit there but I think this time he had more fun. He understands more things and seemed to enjoy the time spent there. We’re planning to go there again before our annual pass expires in Dec.

Sunday after checking out of the hotel, we headed to Cabrillo National Monument. We’ve never been there so it was a nice visit. We stopped at Monterey Park for some Chinese food before we headed home.

 

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Biking Fun

Gaven loves biking.. sitting at the back that is. We’ve taken the bike to Santa Monica and Ventura Beach so far. Biking at the beach is so much nicer than going around the paseo in our neighborhood. Weather is so much nicer by the beach not to mention the view!

Hope we can continue to find time to do this more often! Gaven enjoys the ride very much too. Can’t wait  till the day he rides his own little bike with us!

 

Towing his little red wagon at the Farmer’s Market at Ventura

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After some biking fun, we stopped for some sand and water fun!

Potty Trained at 31 months (2 1/2 years old)

Yes. Finally.

After several failed attempts, we have finally successfully potty trained him. He is still in pull ups during naps and night time. Don’t think he is fully ready for that yet although most of the time he wakes up with dry diapers. One time, we put him in underwear during one of his nap time, he woke up screaming. He had wet his bed and I think it scared him. He didn’t know what was going on. Since then, we are too afraid to try him in underwear anymore.

Anyway, very proud of my little guy. Him in underwear has definitely made life a little easier for us when going out. No more changing diapers! Woo hoo!

My little boy is sick

My poor little guy is home sick with some sort of a stomach bug. He started having loose bowel movement since last night after dinner. In the middle of the night, he woke up 3 times to use the toilet. In the morning, he didn’t seem like his usual self, so we kept him at home. I stayed home with him in the morning, while John is at work. John takes over the afternoon shift while I go in to work after lunch. This is basically our arrangement when Gaven has to stay home from any sickness he has. That way, we both get to go in 1/2 day to work without having to burn any PTO.

He pooped some more and threw up in the morning. I noticed some blood in his stool which prompted me to call John to make an appt with the doctor. He complained all day that his tummy hurts.

Doctor wants us to take his stool specimen, yeah fun stuff. I told the little guy that that when he grows up, he better remember who scoop his stool up and put in little containers. His dad! Haha! On our way home from the doctor, he threw up all over the car!

Other than the multiple trips to the bathroom, he’s been acting ok. Nothing too concerning. Hopefully my little guy feels better soon. Its not fun taking care of a sick kid. :(

31 months update

We are able to have full conversations with him nowadays. He understands a lot and is able to communicate pretty well with us. People say, kids say the darndest thing. This is so true! He doesn’t fail to crack us up each time with the things that he says. I wish I could videotape some of the things he says so I can remember forever. Its the way he says it too that makes it more funny. Or maybe I am just biased because he is my kid. ;)

He’s about 27 lbs at this age which is definitely on the skinnier side.

The other biggest milestone at this age is he’s potty trained. Details on this post.

He can read the Brown Bear book, and the We are going on a Bear Hunt book. Not perfect but most of it.

He has this bad habit of biting his nails. I can’t even remember the last time I cut his finger nails because he chews them all off!

He still sleeps in his crib. We talked about transferring him to a big boy bed but the thought of the freedom he is going to have, set us back. He can climb into his crib but not out.

He STILL comes to our bed in the middle of the night. We don’t mind it. We love it. Hope it doesn’t bite us in the end.

He sings Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, ABC’s, Row Row Row your boat, Happy Birthday, months of the year, and a fish songs that he learns at school. We have no idea what song is that since he only sings part of it, but it’s pretty cute when he does it. “Fishies swimming in the water, fishies swimming in the water, gulp gulp gulp.” None of the songs are perfect; Twinkle Twinkle Little Star is probably one of his best because he doesn’t miss any of the lyrics.

He loves school. We drop him off between 8-8:30a.m., and he gets picked up anywhere from 4:30- 5:30p.m.

He learned his month and days at school. Jan thru Dec, while missing some months and Mon thru Sunday, missing Thursday.

He is definitely a team Daddy. Loves his dad more than me. He wants daddy to do everything with him. He wants daddy to give him a bath, daddy to take him to the potty, daddy to brush his teeth.. etc. I don’t mind it at all, can you tell?

We went to his first Universal Studio trip this past Saturday. Had tons of fun. We watched Shrek 4D, a motion ride. He loved it. He kept his 4 D glasses on. He asked to touch the Pinocchio nose when on one of the scene, it grew because he was telling lies. On the 4D screen, it looks as if the nose came just right into our face.

28 Months Update

At 28 months old, Gaven is a handful.

       

He unlocks the iPad using our passcode all by himself. He can navigate to the apps he wants and can open and close them.

He tries the voice control to play his youtube videos. Unfortunately, Siri doesn’t understand his words yet. :) The other day, he turned on the voice activation control and asked for trash truck. lol

He is obsessed with trash trucks. Not kidding, this kid is obsessed over it.I took a picture of a trash truck on my way home, so I can show it to him when I get home.

My lovely mother’s day card.

He loves his new day care. He is currently enrolled in Montessori, after our home daycare lady quit on us while we were vacationing in Malaysia. It took him about a week to get adjusted. He cried and cried everytime we droped him off. Now he can’t wait to get to school. 

Sadly, he is not potty trained yet.

He is still a very picky eater. Some days he eats good and some days he doesn’t. He weighs around 26 lbs, which is way low for his age.

He seems to get fever a lot. It doesn’t dampen his playful spirit though. It will usually go away in a day or 2. We suspect his big molars are coming in.

He had hand, foot and mouth disease (HFM)! We didn’t even know. I was checking his mouth to see if he had molars coming in, and noticed he had red spots all over the back of his mouth. The next day, they were going away. I checked again 2 days later, and I saw blisters. It doesn’t look that bad and it didn’t seem to bother him. I read on internet, there is really no medicine for it. He had fever few days before we noticed the red spots. So we were sure he has HFM disease. We have to let it run its course. It looks like it is at the end of the course, thank god!

He knows a lot of words. I can’t even keep track. He understands a lot too. I am teaching him some Chinese words. He can speak a few words in Chinese: frog, dog, cat, moon, sun, stars. Of course he wouldn’t say it unless you ask him. He does understand a little Chinese. I know I need to speak Chinese to him more often, but it is hard! I keep forgetting and when I do speak Chinese to him, he doesn’t understand what I said. So sometimes it is just easier to speak English to him.

He still sleeps in his crib. No sign of him climbing out yet. We are keeping him there for as long as we can. He comes over in the middle of the night and sleeps with us. He cries like around 12- 1 am, John goes to get him from his room and bring him over. He sleeps with us till the morning.

We went to Bottega Louie for brunch on Mother’s Day. Gaven had a fever the night before. We weren’t sure if we were going to go. He woke up in the morning with no fever, all active and playful. So we decided to go.

His bedtime is between 7:30-8:30 pm.

 

His weekday routine is:

7am: Wake up, eat breakfast with iPad. Pee/ Poo in potty. Change of diaper and clothes.

8 am: On the way to school. Mommy drop off.

4:30 pm: Daddy pick up. Daddy prepares simple dinner, while Gaven watches TV or iPad, or sometimes, he plays with his toys.

5-6pm: Mommy gets home. Play with Gaven.

6 pm: Dinner.

7 pm: Family play time, poopy.Bathtime

7:30- 8:30: Bedtime routine. Includes brushing his teeth, pee pee in the potty, change into pajamas, play with toys the room, read stories. Turn off light, kiss good night.