More on Lucas

Lucas has been sleeping erratically for the past few weeks, waking up every couple of hours instead of sleeping through the night. He has also been extremely clingy to me since we spent Christmas holidays together 24/7 without creche, school or mamy. Nowadays when I send him to creche, he cries when I leave and according to his caregivers, he has been crying for no apparent reason and they cannot figure out what exactly is bothering him since he refuses to talk.
At home we know why Lucas pitches a crying episode everytime, but I guess the caregivers in that creche cannot know Lucas as well as we do since he is there for a short while only.

Dr. Kyle Pruett, a clinical psychiatrist at Yale’s Child Study Center and author of Me, Myself and I: How Children Build Their Sense of Self: 18 to 36 Months, says that clingyness is actually a toddler’s natural response to his or her primary “assignment” – becoming autonomous. Even at the tender ages of 1, 2 and 3, children want to be independent, and their entire childhood will be about making that happen – but it’s a very gradual process and it can be scary. Clinging on to Mom or Dad at certain moments is an attempt to downsize that scariness.

“It’s really important for parents to understand that clinging is a toddler’s course-correction, as if he’s saying ‘I’ve gone too far, I need my mommy, I need my daddy. I’m scared,’” Pruett explains. “It’s a response to this normal process of becoming his own person.”

I guess the caregivers at the creche are not used to such clingyness since most of the toddlers have been going to this creche full time since they were 6 months old. Lucas is a very new addition compared to the rest of the kids.
Anyway since last Thursday we decided to give Lucas his own room, with all his toys and books and his CD player. He now has his own private space where he can go to if he wants some time on his own without mama or papa at his back telling him not to climb or not to touch...
On the first night he woke up every 2-3 hours looking for me. That resulted in a very tired Lucas the next day, sleeping more in the afternoon, which is not good for us since he would then repeat the same nightly waking up rituals.
So I decided to try giving Lucas some chamomile infusion before he goes to bed, just a few mouthfuls and he's been sleeping through the night since. Chamomile infusion is also good when you want to calm down an antsy toddler when taking a long flight.

Lucas surprised me 2 days ago when he finished his dinner! He has always been such a picky eater and would only have a few spoonfuls of what I was serving or sometimes nothing at all. Even with his steak hache, there are times when he would not want it at all, other times he finishes 3-4 mouthfuls before he starts playing with the food.
But 2 nights ago I made curry chicken with potatoes (my Lucas is definitely Malaysian with Malaysian tastebuds ...!) and I mixed it with rice, and decided to try feeding it to him while he was distracted watching Sesame Street. He wasn't that distracted and actually refused to eat until he looked into the bowl and he also took the bowl and smelled the food. Then he opened his mouth voluntarily :) AND he continued eating until he finished. Yes, even the potato bits and the chicken pieces! Yesterday he also ate Bak Kut Teh mixed with chinese cabbage and pork :)

Yesterday I wanted to bring Lucas out to the playground but after we came out from the apartment it started to rain so I detoured and brought him to the playgym instead - which was a HUGE mistake as there were a lot of hyperactive kids in that playgym. Somehow I didn't think it would be that bad and brought Lucas into the 1-4 year olds play area. Things were fine for a while until a bigger kid, he must have been 6 or 7 year old came into the enclosed area and started throwing the foam covered toys and blocks around. He was also running around and climbing and jumping down without looking to see if the kids were near him. Totally uncontrollable and his parents didn't do anything about it. Lucas decided that it was time for him to get out and wanted to go to the jumping area, so we waited til the place was empty and I put Lucas into the enclosed area. 1 minute later a bunch of hooligans came screaming and running and started jumping around Lucas, not being mindful and Lucas was close to being trampled. I had to scream at the kids to stop but they ignored me and I was about to get in, shoes and all when a girl who was about 7 took Lucas and brought him to me. Lucas also got bullied in another enclosed area where the kids can play with hundreds of balls - again, older kids came running through the pit with Lucas sitting there and one particular girl, an angelic looking kid with blonde ringlets and rosebud lips took an instant dislike to Lucas and I was shocked to see her shoving Lucas into the balls and holding him down! I wanted to clobber her for doing that. She was nasty!!!! I ranted at her in English of course and added the word "mechant" but she just looked at me and walked off. My lesson learnt yesterday - no more playgym if its full of kids. Albeit some of the kids were relly sweet to Lucas, and were helping him climb up the slide and were mindful of him but then there is always one or two kids with serious psychological problems and parents who do not seem to care that their kids are misbehaving.