J Summary (19M24D)

Character development... or the lack of it!

This morning, J (19M24D) committed his first real sin - he told his first lie. Since about 3 weeks ago, J is able to tell us, when he made poo poo in his pants by saying "chou chou" and making the accompany hand-sign for smelly that I taught him. He will request for his diaper to be changed and head by himself up the stairs. Sometimes being busy with housework, I would not have made it upstairs, before he was already half-way up the stairs. This morning, just before leaving the door, we could smell something bad. I said, did you made poo poo in Mandarin, and he answered "nej, nej" in Danish, meaning "no, no". He was too eager to leave for the day care. True to it, he made a big one, and Daddy had to change him, when they arrived at the day care, resulting in getting to work late, and being late for his morning meeting. This brings to mind the fallen man. J is barely past 1.5 year old, and he could tell a lie. As human being develops intellectually, there is also more room for sin. This is clearly seen from the development of a baby. Oops, I forgot to pray with him during his bed-time prayer, that he should seek God's forgiveness. I shall remember to do so tomorrow night.

This evening, it was time for bed-time routine and bath time. J said "nej, nej" for the first time. And for the first time, he got off the chair and walked away from his "Time-Out" spot. I had to confine him to the crib as a result. This is a power-struggle I must win. Character development starts from young. It is very challenging parenting a toddler, and it will only get more challenging.

Language development

Last week, J came home from daycare and during dinner, he took up his cup and said "skål" - which means cheers in English. That took us by surprise. We started cheering back with our cups. I started cheering back in Mandarin "ganbei", which he repeated with perfect intonation. Then he started "cheering" with his cup in Mandarin. We had been practising this for 1 week now, and he now cheers in both Danish and Mandarin :-) This incident tells me that toddlers can differentiate and understand that 2 different words can have the same meaning. J uses the 2 words, and he uses them in the correct context. The hypothesis that too many languages would confuse a toddler that many parents are worried about is fast becoming a myth, at least in our family experience.

Although started rather slow, J is developing fast in the language department. My neighbour was the one who noticed that, as I had no experience with it. Thank God for bringing me my neighbour to remind me that. Then I began to be more conscious and take notice - yes, it does seem that there is a new word every few hours, like a parrot, repeating everything we said which are two-syllabus. But somehow, he still have problem saying mother. On Wednesday, it was the first time he said "ma ma" clearly, but he refused to say "mor" in Danish, and have difficulty saying "mommy" in English. So strange that he could say almost any two-syllabus word after us, but have difficulty with this one word. But I am totally delighted that he could say "ma ma" in Mandarin, finally. The strategy now is try to say things containing two-syllabus as much as possible and to accentuate them. I have got to remember that. These couple of months will be very busy for me, as I read that these few months is a sensitive period for language. Two of the mothers in my Chinese mothers group also told me the same thing. They have toddlers older than J, thus, they speak from experience. Unfortunately, it is also the busiest period at work for me. Dear God, please help me to juggle.

Since the begining of this week, J is no longer satisfied with me just reading his picture flash cards. He wants me to play a game with it by placing 4-5 flash cards on the floor and asking him which animal or fruit is on which card. He will then point out the card that matches the animal or fruit that I asked for. I will then clap my hands, if he answers correctly. If not, I will tell him which card is for example, the elephant.

A couple of days ago, J started talking on his own - he starts to say "hua" when he sees flowers, instead of just parroting after us.

Imagination Development

J's imagination is developing. Today, when I picked him up at the daycare, he was playing pretending play, carrying a lady hangbag in his arm. He was so proud and gave me the grin, when he saw me at the door.

The daycare also has toy-props such as high heel shoes, scarfs, etc. for pretend play, mainly for girls.