1st movie theater experience for Joaqui

When we went to Nido Science Discovery Center in Mall of Asia a few months back, we went inside their planetarium and when Joaqui sat down comfortably and looked amazed at what he saw, I had the idea that we can try to bring him to a movie theater to watch a movie. We waited for an appropriate movie that is not too scary or would not be too loud for him as he easily gets scared of loud noises. We also planned to watched on a weekday so as there would not be too many people watching and if in case he cried or got too noisy, there wouldn't be a lot of people to bother. When hubby had his off on a Monday, we went to Trinoma and we brought Joaqui to the movies to watch How To Train Your Dragon. At first, he was really hesitant to go inside the theater, but I had told him that there are lights inside and there would just be a very large TV screen. When we sat down, he saw a lot of children inside and he was somehow reassured that there were other children watching. I think Joaqui liked the movie, well not the entire movie because he dozed off during the last 30 or 45 minutes of it : ) It was a good movie for young children like Joaqui who is familiar with dragons, and it teaches children to be brave.


I have read that a 3-year-old child can be taken into theaters for their first movie experience and I was really anticipating this moment when we would be watching a movie as a family. I was very happy that Joaqui had a pleasant first movie experience. I'm glad that we waited for him to be ready because 3 is just a number - it still depends on a child's attention span and his willingness to sit still inside a somewhat dark room with other people around. What just bothered me was the movie trailers shown before the start of the show. How To Train Your Dragon was rated as GP or general patronage, but most of the movie trailers shown were rated PG18 and there were two movie trailers that got Joaqui scared (I think it was Iron Man 2 and The Last Airbender). Next time, I think we would wait until all the movie trailers are finished before we would let Joaqui sit down so he doesn't have to see movies he isn't allowed to see yet.

Hooray! Joaqui is potty trained!

I have had numerous attempts before to potty train Joaqui, but we were unsuccessful. Then I read an article about potty training which tells parents to also consider the readiness of a child before starting potty training. When Joaqui turned two, he had an idea of wee-wee and poo-poo, but he does not know yet when to go to the bathroom. We tried him on a potty trainer, but he does not want to use it. He began telling us that he pees in his diaper about a month ago and so I started training him on how to use the bathroom. I think he was himself ready to use the bathroom as he only had two accidents. On the second week, we did not have any accidents at all and I am so glad that I also waited for him to be ready.

I have summarized below the article I've read in toilet training children: 10 ways to prepare your child for the potty

Take your child into the bathroom with you. It's especially helpful if fathers and brothers set the example for boys, and mothers and sisters set the example for girls.

Try to help your child recognize the sensations of "being wet," "wetting now," and "about to be wet." Encourage your child to talk about these sensations -- especially "about to be..." sensations -- without pressing your child to be toilet trained.

Let your child go nude in appropriate settings to help the child " see" what he or she is doing, and to help make the mental connection between the words and what they refer to.

Changing a diaper in the bathroom will also associate the process with the place. Children over age 2 should be off the changing table for this reason.

Although much ado has been made about using the proper terminology for body parts and functions, you should use the words that come most easily to you and your child.

Help your child learn the meaning of the terms "before" and " after" by using them yourself in other contexts such as, "We'll wash the dishes after dinner."

Talk about the advantages of being trained: no more diaper rash, no more interruptions for diaper changing, the pleasure of being clean and dry.

Let your child practice lowering and raising training pants sometimes, or putting them on and taking them off.

Have a potty chair handy on which the child may sit (even with clothes on) perhaps while you are in the bathroom yourself, but only if he or she wants to.

Begin reading "potty" books to your child.

joaqui the ring bearer

Joaqui was the ring bearer during his Lola Nene and Lolo Allen's 25th Wedding Anniversary and this was his real first major stint as a ring bearer. Unfortunately he did not walk down the aisle during the procession of the wedding entourage, but he did give the rings to the priest during the ceremony.

He looks more like a Congressman here than a ring bearer. : )

4th of July outing

Since the 4th of July Holiday in the U.S. was a major holiday and only a few dictations come in from the doctors, our company holds its annual "summer outing" on the 4th of July. This time it was in Cattleya Farm Resorts in Antipolo. Joaqui was the first one to go swimming because he so much loves the water. The next day, he spent half a day in the pool swimming and jumping. We had one very happy little boy by the time we came home. : )

slides

Joaqui is very fond of them and he likes to do it over and over again...until his butt hurts. Even at home, we would make a slide out of a big pillow. He was ecstatic when he saw this swimming pool with slides. It was scorchingly hot, but he never cared. He just wants to slide.

We passed by McDonald's in SM Marikina and he had a glimpse of this small play area. He let go of mommy and daddy's hands and went straight to McDonald's and climbed up the slide. I think not a lot of children were able to play at that time because he was "dominating" the area. It's a good thing that the other children were on their way out of McDonald's.

Our little Energizer bunny...I wonder what's next after the slides...

Joaqui's imaginative play

Since Joaqui turned two, I have been noticing that our little boy engages more and more into imaginative play, in which he begins to use objects to represent other items. In some children, transition to imaginative play comes around the age of 3, but in Joaqui's case it came earlier. This is one of his favorite toys right now - a cd case. Why? Because it can turn into a lot of his favorite things. ; )

Crane. He is fascinated by cranes on top of buildings ever since he saw one near our subdivision.

Here he moves the cd case and turns it around like a cane moving and would also make crane noises as he moves it.  

Elevator. I was surprised when he thought of this as an elevator. He used to be afraid of elevators, but now he likes to ride on it.

Building. He would say that there is a carpenter on top of the building, as he would see on construction sites. He would also imitate the hammering of a carpenter and says, "Pok! Pok! Pok!"

Cars or buses. Joaqui would say that there are many cars or buses moving and would make sounds of running cars.

And because he sees it as a car, he would try to ride on them. Since he can't, he would say "Hindi kasya Joaqui." (Joaqui won't fit.)

I love this stage of play because I can see that he is ready to take off with his imagination. He never ceases to amaze me on how he can look at the simple things around him. I also notice that he expresses himself through this kind of play, often reliving the experiences he has had, for example, with a barber, a doctor or what he sees us do around the house. Another good thing is that we tend to save on toys because he is more interested in the everyday items around the house. ; ) 

Joaqui's Twinkle Twinkle

This is Joaqui singing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. He likes to sing this song with action. He is just so cute in here. I'm sorry if the video is playing sideways, I don't know how to rotate this : ( Happy Wednesday everyone!

the Joaqui way of eating popsicle

Looks like just a simple popsicle, but it's Joaqui's first time to eat a popsicle, which explains the mess. It was licked and devoured by a little boy who loves to eat ice cream. Of course, mommy had fun watching his little boy eat the popsicle the "Joaqui way." 

our funny little boy

Joaqui is developing a really good sense of humor and most of his "hirits" are on his own, without us teaching him. I taught him the song "my toes, my knees, my shoulder, my head" with actions and he learned it easily. When he had his haircut, he sang the song as "my toes, my knees, my shoulder, KALBO!" This really had us laughing. I told him that it is supposed to be my head and so he sung it again. "My toes, my knees, my shoulder, my head, KALBO!"

His imagination is also developing really well. He was the one who asked me to tie this cloth diaper on his neck because he told me he is a superhero. When I looked at this picture, I can't help but notice that our little boy is growing up really fast.

 

pool party

Last week, Joaqui hosted a mini pool party in celebration of his new inflatable swimming pool. We had a much bigger inflatable pool, but it was difficult to inflate and also to clean, so we bought a smaller one. He invited his friends Chelsea and Kyle to swim with him and boy did they have so much fun! The pool party was a success ; )

our little priest

Our Joaqui is very observant. Sometimes he just watches what is going on around him and then after some time, he would imitate what he sees or hears. Since he likes going to church, he would imitate the actions of the priest during the mass. And now, he not only imitates the actions but also sings mass songs. I was surprised when I just heard him singing "Kordero ng Diyos", although not the complete song but part of it. There was also this one time when he got hold of our Sto. Nino's cross and pretended that he was a priest, which we caught on video:




I would always sing songs to him and I thought he was not really paying attention, but he was really listening because we will just hear him sing the songs like "Bahay Kubo" and "Tanging Yaman" and he would sing this in tune. I am so proud of Joaqui because he learns easily. He can identify all the pictures in his two sets of flash cards. He also now says "I love you Mommy" and sing ABC (when he is in the mood). I think his being "bibo" makes up for his slow-to-warm-up temperament because once he is warmed up, he can really put on a show. ;)

milk strike is over

It's official. Joaqui's milk strike is over. He finally gave in to the nutritional demands of his body and asked for milk last Sunday after waking up from his sleep. And just today, he asked for milk three times, slowly getting back to his usual milk-drinking self. Mom and Dad are so happy. His appetite also seemed to be getting back to normal, and the usual playful Joaqui is again filling our house with his shrieks of laughter. Milk strike is definitely over.

it's officially summer

Our backyard inflatable pool is up and that means summer is here! It was really hot so Joaqui and I took a dip in our pool ; ) We always have fun playing in the water while daddy takes pictures. I'm also planning to invite some of Joaqui's neighborhood friends for a pool party next time...it would be a riot! Hahahaha!

Joaqui likes Andie

This was taken when we hosted our little group's eat along and I think one of the few moments that Joaqui would actually want to hug a little girl ; ) Joaqui is a little snob when it comes to touching, kissing or hugging other children, but I think he likes Andie. Before we went to bed that day, he also said, "Like Andie." Well, Andie is such a pretty little girl, and I'm not surprised Joaqui would like to hug her.

a proud mommy moment

We attended another birthday party and as some of you might know, Joaqui has a little issue with attending birthday parties. It's not that he doesn't like birthday parties, but it takes a while for him to warm up to the crowd, the noise, the sometimes-popping-of-the-ballon moments, and the high-pitched voices of party hosts, so he doesn't really come around easily.

So there we were, infront of the clubhouse and he doesn't want to go inside yet when we came. We walked a little and I did a little prep talk. We saw a booth giving out french fries and that really helped because he readily went inside the venue. What was different was that he readily danced to the music, greeted a lot of people with hi and hello and there were no crying episodes.

What made me really proud of Joaqui was when we won a prize for the treasure hunt and the party host asked him some questions that went like this:

Host: What's your name?

Joaqui: Joaqui

Host: How old are you?

Joaqui: Two!

Host: Where do you live?

Joaqui: Cainta!

Host: You're very good!

And when it was time to give out lootbags, I accompanied him to fall in line and I told him to say happy birthday Jacob. So when it was his turn, he said "happy bortday Jacob" through the microphone. I'm so proud of my baby!

A little patience did help a lot and I hope that this is the start of a fun relationship betweenJoaqui and birthday parties...or any other party for that matter. ; )

  

Joaqui's I love you

Today is Joaqui's "I love you day" because he actually said I love you. We have been saying I love you to Joaqui since he was born, but even when he learned to talk, he doesn't say the words "I love you" though. We never knew why, but he just doesn't say it. I've read somewhere that children of Joaqui's age doesn't really understand what this means. He can say, "Mommy, love Pong" (his Twilight Turtle) or "Love Troy" (our dog), but he cannot really say I love you mommy or I love you daddy.

But today while playing alone, he just said "Love you Chelsea." I laughed and was surprised because Chelsea is his playmate and walkmate. I said say I love you mommy. He just looked at me. I might just have to wait for my turn. ; ) 

  

wacky Joaqui

Age two isn't really that terrible at all. Joaqui is already 2 years, 1 month, 1 week and 5 days old to be exact and he is becoming more and more charming each day. Our little prince knows how to make us laugh with his antics or by imitating our actions. He is a very keen observer and his vocabulary is amazingly growing with three- to four-word sentences. Sometimes though his temperament gets into him especially when he wants to get what he wants. He now loves cranes, big trucks, tractors - anything that is big and moving. 

At age two, our daily conversations would be something like this:

Mommy: You want to eat bread with your hotdog?

Joaqui: Ayaw bread, hotdog lang. Wow! Delicious hotdog!

Mommy: Okay. (Gives him hotdog.)

Joaqui: Yum, yum hotdog!

Or this....

Mommy is reading a book to Joaqui...and Joaqui interrupts.

Joaqui: Snake hurts.

Mommy: Yes baby, but we're not in that part yet. 

Joaqui (after Mommy says "the end": More book pa! Read more book! More pa!