Shaqeel's Own Room

Please pardon the flowers, I inherited that

Since the day Shaqeel was born, he has always 90% of the time, slept with us on our bed in our room, in between us. 3 of us, squeezed together, mostly me being squeezed, thank you very much. After much deliberation, (almost 2 months!), I decided that the time has come, the time for Shaqeel to be an independent boy (haha!). Furthermore, from what I read in parenting websites, the best time to separate a child from parent's bed, or to upgrade from cot to bed, is between 2.5 years to 3 years old. Perfect!

And so it began the training for Shaqeel to sleep on his own bed, in his own room...

In preparation, I bought a single bed with a giraffe bed sheet and rearranged the room to make way for the bed. Below is a summary of what has happened so far, bear in mind he has slept through the night since he was 1yr3mo;

Environment: Toilet door ajar, toilet light on, room light off, room door ajar, corridor light on, standing fan volume 1.

Day 1: Put him in bed at 930pm, he gladly climbed up, although I need to lie with him, else he won't sleep. Once he was asleep, I went out of the room (about 1015pm). He woke up at 230am crying, I went to lie with him until he fell asleep, then I left the room (250am). Woke up again at 630am, I did the same until he fell asleep at 645am. Woke up for the day at 8am.

Day 2: Put him in bed at 10pm, no resistance, lie with him. Woke up at 430am, I went and lie with him, then crept out of bed at 450am. He woke up at 7am, climbed up my bed and asked me to "tepi, tepi", he wants to sleep with me. OK.

Day 3: Put him in bed, woke up at 4am, same thing. Woke up for the day at 740am.

Day 4: Put him in bed, woke up at 415am, same thing, I lied with him until he fell asleep.

Day 5: Put him in bed, woke up at 430am, same thing.

So can you see any pattern here? He wakes up at 4 to 430 every morning, crying and looking for me, I had to lie with him until he fell asleep.

Tell me oh mothers who have succeeded, how do I break this? Any tips? Am I doing the right thing by lying down with him until he sleeps?

Gong Xi Fa Cai!

Gong Xi Fa Cai to everyone celebrating!

May this dragon year bring all of you good health and abundance wealth!

p/s: Shaqeel in his dragon samfu we bought in Beijing. The picture was taken at Chey's house during her CNY open house.

Shaqeel Goes To School

Did I tell you Shaqeel now goes to school? Yes, he is now the proud student of Mariah CDC, an Islamic English center at Bukit Antarabangsa. If you remember, I blogged once about this place when I was looking for a place to care for Shaqeel when our maid left.

The picture above shows Shaqeel in his uniform. If he had his way, he would wear jeans to school. He did not want to wear the kopiah at all, although he loves the songkok we bought him for Raya.

Every morning it is a battle to wake him up and bathe him. I need to be more patient, after all it has only been 4 days. A friend suggested he might not have enough sleep so that is the reason he could be cranky, solution is to let him sleep earlier which I'm going to try tonight.

Happy New Year 2012 from Hanoi!

Hey everyone! It's a brand new year 2012 so I'd like to wish all of you a wonderful year ahead. We were onboard Halong Bay cruise to usher in the new year . The cruise was splendid! The weather was really nice averaging 15 degree so it was cool but not to the bones cold.

Shaqeel enjoying the view of Halong Bay

Shaqeel is now 2.5 years old so he is really into running, jumping and exploring so many things, what more being a boy, he has so much energy. I think he was restless being confined in a ship space for 2 days. We had to follow him around and never let him out of sight lest he would jump overboard. Overall, I would give him a 6 for behavior, 10 being the best hehe

I must confess we resorted to candies and ice cream to have some peace (even for 7 minutes) and adult conversation. In the picture above, Shaqeel had to dry his sweater for spilling ice cream and water onto it. It was more of a disciplinary action rather than pleasure/game, but it was obvious he thoroughly enjoyed it.

Which is how I would view life now, to enjoy everything even though it's a chore. Yes, that is my resolution for 2012. And yes, that includes mopping the floor.

Selamat Hari Raya!

Selamat Hari Raya AidilFitri to everyone reading.

Thank you Atuk, Nenek, aunties and uncles for your duit raya,
for you have just contributed to my education fund.

Kisses, Shaqeel.