Emmet: 3 years old

At the beginning of becoming a 3-year-old, Emmet was behaving quite charmingly. I thought all my hard work is paying off by now. Well, it seems likely since almost everything I taught him, I could say I thought I taught him well. Tantrums were no longer an issue. No embarassing episodes in public.

But after a few months,

He says no to almost everything.

Suka cari gaduh.

Screams “No!” or does not like it when others forbid him from doing something or even being scolded.

Make noise/screams when people are talking to each other. Such an attention seeker.

Suke buat aksi mengada-ngada when getting up in the morning or from a nap.

“Nak mikuuuuuuuuuk haaaa!!!” dengan suara tangisan yang amat mengada-ngada.
“Air mummyyyyyy haaaa!!!”
“Ta boleeeeeeeh haaaa!!!” when his blanket is stuck under his feet.
“Aaa jussss!!! Wa-bee-naaa haaaa!!!!”

I usually don’t give in to this kind of behaviour. I said, “Kalau Emmet nak, cakap elok-elok, no crying no screaming macam tu ok.”

And he would go “ Tannnnaaak!!!”

And I would go away and ignore him.

And he would cry even more at my ears, trying to get attention. And I can’t do anything else except wait. Can’t even hear what’s been said in the news on the tele. Maybe I need to stand by with more new magazines.

This would go on like half an hour until he asked me nicely.

Boy am I trying to be patient. I am just wondering how long will this go on until he learns. Or is this even going to work?

Achievements
Can follow instructions when in good mood. Helps me get the remote control or put his bowl into the kitchen sink after breakfast or switch off the tele when going out or get a dvd rom the tv cabinet or paling syok skali is tidying up his toys!!!! Yippie!!!
“Emmet nak ikut mummy ambik daddy tak? Kalau nak ikut tolong simpan semua mainan Emmet dalam bakul ok, kalau tak mummy tak nak bawak Emmet, Emmet tinggal kat rumah ok.”

Kalau good mood he straight away obey. But if he’s not up to it he would go “Mummy shi-paaaaaaaannnn!!!”

“Emmet punye mainan Emmet kene simpan, Emmet good boy kan?”

“Tanak guk boy!!!”

“Ok mummy tanak bawak Emmet, Emmet tinggal kat rumah sorang-sorang ok?”

“Tanaaaaakkkk!!!”

“Kalau tanak tinggal Emmet simpan ok?”

“Mummy shi-paaaaaannn!!!”

This same conversation would go on another eight to nine cycle before he gave in and start collecting his toys.

Of course a big hug and kisses and praises awaits him if he completed his chore.

He is starting to take responsibility. Take his own towel from the ampaian. Take off his pants. Still have some difficulties taking off top. He wants to comb his hair and reminds me to clean his ears and have his daily inhaler. He wants to lock the car doors. He wants to buckle his own seat belt. He wants to open and close his own biscuit container. Can play games from my handphone. Can take his toys from under the sofa. Wipe his own tears with a tissue. Throws rubbish into the bin. Brush his bottom and front teeth and spit. Knows how to take pictures from a camera. Can identify characters in a cartoon series. Can sing to tunes but does not like other people sing along. Can nap on his own

And the grand finale of his achievement….. THE FIVE W!!!

It has been about a month now and I think in about another month I will go crazy!

“Siape tu?” pointing at the crocodile being disected on National Geographic.
“Crocodile…”
“Huh? Ape tu kwo-kedai?”
“There, crocodile swimming…” the tele showing the live crocodile swimming in the river.
“Huh? Ape tu wimming?”
“Swimming dalam river…” sambil buat gaya swimming.
“Kwo-kedai bla bla bla ape tu?” the researcher was trying to put a tracking device on the crocodile.
Starting to ignore that question…the crocodile was showing off his teeth.
“Bla bla bla wonderpets bla bla bla”
I burst out laughing! Remember the crocodile in Wonderpets who had a toothache and had to find a lonely bird to clean his teeth? Yup, that’s what he was explaining…

But anyway that’s what he’s doing now. ‘Ape tu? Siape tu?’ to almost everything!

Emmet is scared of…
Thunder and fireworks. He would suddenly stop what he’s doing and run to the nearest person and panjat and hug that person tightly at the neck, complete with gaya terketar-ketar. And sometimes if the sound of the helicopter or aeroplane was so loud, he would get scared too but actually wanted to go and have a look. And I don’t know why but he is suddenly scared of cicak sometimes. He likes seeing bugs but got scared when my sister held a cockroach near him. Sometimes he’s scared of big flies.

Appettite
I am starting to worry because he is becoming more curious in what other people eats especially the ones that he is allergic to. He wants to taste our food when we eat something.

He does not like western food and it is quite difficult to get him to eat when we went to a western restaurant. Dah la tak banyak choice for kids menu that he is not allergic to. Sometimes I have to get the manager or chef to explain how the they prepare the dish and make requests to modify the dish so that Emmet can eat it safely. And most of the time, I had to tapau Emmet’s leftovers and hope my sister would eat them. But I’m not up to western food these days and am glad of it because we can save some money since western food is so expensive.

I only started trying roti canai on him. He loved it! And no significant allergic reaction occurs. So lepas ni senang la boleh lepak at mamak and let Emmet be occupied with his roti canai.