Now that the kids are finally back in school, I have a short break every morning, and can spend some time writing about the funny things that the kids have been up to.
Many people tell me that Didi is very funny and is a clown/comedian/cartoon character/entertainer, which is probably true, just that he also drives me nuts!
#10.1 All three kids used to sleep with us in our bedroom until we moved to our rental place. Even when we were all in the same room, the twins would wake up in the middle of the night to look for me, so it was quite a challenge getting the twins to stay in their own room through the night. I stay in their room till they fall asleep, but on bad nights, I end up sleeping in there with them throughout the night.
After many miserable nights, we decided that it was time to bribe them. I have a sticker/reward system in place, and they get stickers for certain “good behaviour”. Every 10 stickers entitles them to a present, and I have a stash of small toys/stationery for them to choose from. However, getting them to stay in their own room through the night required a bigger prize, so I showed them the Jellycat selection, and let them choose what they wanted. Meimei chose a unicorn (no surprises there) while Didi picked a monkey (he likes Curious George).
Meimei has always been more motivated by the sticker/reward system, and when the unicorn was delivered, she tried really hard to sleep through the night in their room. Didi, on the other hand, still kept making appearances in our room, to the extent that we ordered a small mattress from Ikea, and left it next to our bed for him.
After Meimei earned her unicorn, she tried to convince Didi to earn his as well.
Meimei: Didi, if you sleep in your own room, you can get stickers, and then you can get your monkey, you know? Didi: It’s okay. I can eat by myself quickly and Mummy will give me stickers also. Me: Nope, you’ll only get stickers for sleeping in your own room now. Didi: It’s okay! Meimei can get more stickers, then I’ll give my monkey to Meimei, and Meimei will share the monkey with me. Me: No, you have to earn your monkey on your own! Didi: It’s okay! I’ll give my monkey to Daddy and Mummy. Then when I go to their room at night, I can cuddle my monkey there. Me: No… we won’t give the monkey to you. Didi: But you must share, you know? Share! Me: *facepalm*
#10.2 After many nights of not sleeping in his own room, I was exhausted and exasperated.
Me: Didi, your monkey told me that he is very sad, because you didn’t sleep in your own room. He cried and said he’s going to run away. Didi: No, my monkey isn’t sad. My monkey didn’t cry! He’s not going to run away because he’s just a toy, you know. Toys cannot cry and run away, Mummy.
#10.3 I play audiobooks in the car for the twins (we have some stories on CDs from N’s time) and one of their favourite stories is Curious George. Didi loves repeating, “by H.A Rey” whenever he hears the narrator saying it, and after a while, he started adding “by H.A Rey” to his conversations with us.
Didi: Daddy! I like this toy, you know? It’s a car, then it can go very fast! Like this! Vrooom vroom! C: Oh is it? That’s nice… Didi: Ya, by H.A Rey! Vrooom vrooom! C: What?
Didi: Mummy, can you read this book? Me: Okay! Didi: Yay! By H.A Rey! Me: Erm, this isn’t Curious George…
#10.4 Didi finally earned his monkey a few nights ago, and was absolutely thrilled.
Me: Didi, what are you going to call your monkey? Didi: Erm… Curious George, by H.A Rey! Me: Okayyyyy… (Thankfully, he changed the monkey’s name after a while, so that it would be similar to Meimei’s unicorn’s name.)
The twins with their rewards for sleeping in their own room
#11 Didi has always been the one who wakes up the earliest among the three kids. It’s like he has an internal alarm clock, no matter how early/late he goes to bed. I’ve tried putting him to bed much later at night, but he still wakes up really early the next morning, so I figured that it was best if all the kids slept earlier at night, so that they get more rest.
Apart from waking up really early (he woke up at 515am yesterday, and 550am this morning), Didi likes to follow me everywhere. And by everywhere, I really mean EVERYWHERE, including the toilet. He would cry and bang on the door if I go to the toilet and lock the door, so after yet another such crying session, I let him follow me in. He was most pleased, and stood there watching me. “
Didi: So… what can we do here? Me: You can watch Mummy pee okay?! What else is there to do here? Didi: Oh okay.
Check out my toilet buddy, holding a “gun” he built, and waiting for me to be done peeing.
When people told me that motherhood would change my life, I didn’t quite expect it to include having a kid watching me pee.
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