sigh. it’s funny how having a child can make you super lazy, and ignorant about things.

like, thinking of activities for your child to do instead of just watching television.

i wrote previously about how elliott loves television, and right now, it’s pretty much the same. except, that i’ve realised that i’m using television as a way of keeping him occupied so that i can get my own things done and/or so that he can keep himself occupied.

which does sound pretty awful, because it makes me look very lazy and bad.

not that i don’t want to play with him – but when you have pretty rough days at work, sometimes i just want those brief moments to just catch a breather, and to just be on my own for a while.

of course, my son doesn’t understand this. he knows that when his mom is back, he gets to play, and walk around and have a whale of a time. but since i know i’ll be in a very awful mood, i use the next best alternative : the television.

and feel terribly guilty thereafter.

it’s the weekend, and i have much lesser work going on. so i am going to try my utmost best to keep him entertained and occupied with everything else except the tv. it has to be the last resort.

so even if i have to struggle and fight with him while he tries to climb up and down the stairs, even if i’m very tired of doing the same thing again and again, i will try my best to keep him entertained and happy.

and give him mama’s undivided time and attention.

I have this on/off debate about television for a toddler.

Studies have shown and proven that it isn’t a good idea to expose your child to television, if he/she is below the age of 2.

When I tell this to the older folks, they say that their kids watched television too but they turned out fine.
My mother even told me that she used to record commercials and play them on tapes to keep me occupied, and I turned out fine too.

When I tell my friends about this study, some tend to agree that it’s not a good idea for a kid to watch any television and advised me to refrain from doing so.

Unfortunately, Elliott loves television.

He loves to pass me the remote control everyday, asking me to turn it on for him. sometimes I’d not, and those times, he will turn it on himself.

I can tell you what shows he enjoys (anything that’s a song and dance), what bores him (news), and what time he will want to be watching television (almost every moment when he has nothing to do).

I know, this makes us sound so awful as parents. But believe me, we try. We play all his toys with him, we take him for walks, we tried reading to him, teaching him nursery rhymes (sans ipad), everything in an un-technological manner. Sometimes, it works and he doesn’t go for the remote; other times we wrestle for his attention when his eyes are glued to the tv.

perhaps I’ve not tried hard enough.

When you have work ongoing daily, and you come back exhausted, its easier to go for the easy way out, and let television do all the entertaining and educating.

i feel guilty and bad after that and i would sometimes berate myself for being lazy, but I can’t help it. It’s just so much.. easier.

just another day of being a mother, I guess. you will never be able to figure out what’s best.

i can’t believe just how quick he’s grown in the past few months.

it feels as though everything happens so quickly once a baby becomes a toddler.

elliott is learning to walk at this stage. i’m pretty sure he’s able to walk on his own but he has got no guts to do it. so most of the time, he will be holding on to our hands and he walks around the house very quickly.

he’s also speaking a lot more now. we hear “papa”, “gai gai” daily, and we’re able to communicate with him much better (ie, understanding him). he knows that he needs to wear shoes to go out, he knows he needs to hand me the remote control to turn on television, he knows the difference between a fake telephone and a real telephone, and he knows you need to slide across the screen to turn on mobile phones.

OMY.

i try to spend as much time as i possibly could getting him to focus on non-technological stuff, so i spend a lot of time stacking wood blocks and playing shapes with him. he doesn’t enjoy stacking the wood blocks much; destroying the towers seem to be more to his liking.

as for food, he loves it. his favourite words must be “mum mum”. he’s been eating everything we would allow him to eat, so there’s some rice from time to time, some noodles, some yoghurt, and he’s pretty much a bottomless pit. he’s also grown to be quite the picky eater. ever since we started giving him other types of food, he’s also learnt to realise that there are plenty of dishes that are much tastier than his boring porridge, and he’ll point and indicate to us that he’d rather eat adult food.

at restaurants, he will want to “order” food as well, and will be tugging on the aprons of waiters/waitresses who are taking orders or bringing our food in. it’s quite fun to watch, and he’s really a great joy to be with.

he’s growing well, and he’s very happy.

sometimes i’d wish he isn’t growing up so quickly, but i guess at this stage, we really have nothing to be complaining about.

everything’s just good.

it’s a brand new ball game when your toddler falls ill.

you are constantly checking his temperature, making sure that he’s eating/drinking well, making him comfortable, giving him extra TLC to make sure that he knows that you feel his pain.

and i don’t know about most parents, but there’s a part of me that constantly wanted to run to the doctor to hear him say that my child’s alright.
of course, that didn’t happen. i could only constantly assure, and reassure myself that he’s alright.

it’s been a week since we heard phlegm developing, and since that saturday, it had escalated to a pretty high fever, a little flu.. in short, a viral infection. elliott is all better now, except for that phlegm that constantly seemed to be bugging him, but gone are those initial days where he couldn’t even sleep well, and was running a high fever.

and thank God, though he was initially very ill and uncomfortable, he still had quite a good appetite and he was eating well.

but trust me, this is something that i can honestly say i wish i won’t have to go through often.

it’s not like it’s an adult we’re talking about. this toddler cannot communicate except cry, and cry, and when he was having problem sleeping we would have to carry him, sit upright, and help him to be comfortable so that he can rest (which also meant that we didn’t sleep much).

but of course, God does work in ways you’d never have thought of.

as i thought back about the rough week we’d have, i’m amazed at the timing of this. the man had taken a few days off work, and i wasn’t really back to work yet. we didn’t have to be rushing back and forth from work, we were at home to watch him, to take care of him, to have sufficient rest.

so yes, though it was difficult, it wasn’t that bad.

though i must stress yet again, it’s not something that i’ll be willing to go through ever so often.

it’s not the most fun thing, you know.