Lucas at 3.8 years

My gorgeous little boy is growing up so fast! Too fast, in fact! The cutest thing he's been doing this week is walking away from me, then turning back halfway and telling me "I'll be back in 5 minutes" putting his hand and spreading his 5 fingers out at me. 

Everyday when I pick him up from school, he runs into my arms happily, grabs my face with two hands and gives me a big kiss. These days Lucas likes to sing Barney's "I Love You" (with all the kisses and hugs and high fives) and everytime we put on socks, without fail, he starts singing "This little piggy.."

Lucas helps clear the dishes after meals, and loves to vacuum the floor with our hand held vacuum. He is also getting more independant, choosing what he wants to wear, taking off and wearing his clothes himself (though he has not mastered putting on socks or putting on his Tshirt). He goes to the toilet himself (and switches on the lights, closes the door and locks it...) and he has also attempted to wipe himself after. Once, I was not alert or quick enough, he'd already wiped himself and put on his pants before I caught on! Lucas' favourite thing to do for now is hand washing! AND peeing on my plants in the garden! 

When we go to the supermarket, he is like a little man, pushing his mini shopping cart and filling it with stuff he wants to buy! I always end up having to put stuff back on the shelves which make our shopping time longer than usual. But its such a joy to watch him choosing the stuff, and talking to me like an adult - telling me we need to buy his chocolate milk because "its all finished" and telling me he "wants the Mickey ice cream, not this ice cream" when I pick the wrong one.

When he comes home from school, and Fred asks him what he ate for lunch, he tells us proudly what was served for lunch. Eliane tells me that Lucas' eating habits have improved and he is now well behaved in school. She says he is grown up already...

May Day!

Its been a long time since my last blog - picking up on the meeting with Noelle, she actually sent the school nurse to our home for a meeting with both parents on how to make Lucas eat. But as it is easier said than done, Lucas is still not eating his veges or fruits - though he is eating baby carrots now :) He started munching on them when he saw Sandra, our pregnant friend eating them and he wanted to try, saying that it was so cute (cos they were "babies" , like him!!!)

Speechwise, Lucas has improved tremendously, even invoking feelings of panic in me when I noticed that he is speaking more french than english sometimes. When we received his class photo, I was surprised that Lucas could name all of his classmates (all except one, that he refused to say her name - I will explain why later). 

For my 41st birthday, Lucas sang me "Happy Birthday" - yes, the full song :) And he also sings in school, according to Eliane, his favourite song is "Petite Escargot". Yesterday, on a day trip out to a farm for kids with other moms from Gepetto, Lucas sang "Petite Escargot" for us! He also loves singing after his BeeBo "Sing, Sign & Play" CD, he dances and plays his piano and guitar (I bought him a child's guitar, an authentic guitar with real strings that he can strum and pluck) AND he loves singing Myley Cyrus' "See you again"!

A week after my birthday, when I went to pick Lucas from school, one of the mothers from school (who also happens to be my MIL's friend) stopped me and told me that she'd arrived early at school that day and heard Lucas screaming for help behind the hedge of the school. She ran towards the cry and found 2 girls beating Lucas. One girl held his hands behind his back while the other bashed him repeatedly. This was during playtime and none of the adults in the school heard him or came to his rescue. 

The girls are sisters, one of them is in Lucas' class - the one he refuses to name. In fact, when I told Lucas' friend's mother about the beating, she asked her daughter if she knew who has been beating Lucas and she immediately said "Olpha". And I found out that she was right. This beatings must have been going on since school reopened in April, because Lucas would cling to me and refuse to let me go when I dropped him off. He did not know how to tell us he was being bullied in school although now I realize that he said "beat, beat" many times - but I thought he was saying that to our newly adopted puppy (more on that later!) 

The girls were also calling him "bridé" which means "slit-eyes". We wrote a formal letter to the school and the headmistress immediately told me that when the mother alerted them that Lucas was beaten by the 2 sisters, they already took action to punish the girls. And the girls were also being punished for another week in school - no playtime for them, instead they have to sit in the headmistress' office and she will continue to lecture them on beatings and racism. She also called the girls' father and told him about Lucas and he has also said that he took action - I noticed that the girls were away from school for a week or so before I bumped into Olpha and her dad in class last Monday. It was a bit tense in class when I walked in - I could feel Eliane and Noelle tensing up , I think its because they saw how very upset I was when I talked to them about the beating and they were expecting me to go off at the dad; but I kept my mouth shut and didn't say anything (I will trust Noelle and her team to take care of the matter and keep Lucas safe). 

Back at home, both Fred & I told Lucas that we know what is going on and that he has nothing more to worry about - that he can trust us to protect him. After we reassured him, he slept well that night, and the next day when he went back to school, Noelle told him that the 2 girls are being punished and he nodded to show he understood, and told Noelle that they beat him (in french). In the end I noticed that as a result of the beating, the area behind the hedge has been cordoned off - great but it had to be Lucas who had to take a beating for it to happen. That area is in fact unsafe and hides the kids from the adults.

Back to the puppy, we adopted a gorgeous little pup, Lucas named her "MoMo" and she stayed with us for 3 weeks before I gave her away to Sandra & Didier for her safety (and Lucas'). Lucas was very rough and almost cruel with her, jumping on her repeatedly and pulling her ears and she was starting to fight back. On the day we decided to give her away, she bit Lucas. 

Anyway last weekend, we visited MoMo in her new home - she has grown so much and is happy, I saw her eating confit and paté from the gité!!!! I now realize that adopting a puppy is like having another child in the house; double the mess, double the fatigue, double the mischief!!!!! And I had to "potty train" the pup :P Each time I scooped up crap, I was telling myself "oh noooooo....!!!!"   

Now life is back to "normal", no more waking up early to take the pup out for its toilette (only she doesn't want to do it outside, she always waits for us to come back and she does it in my garden, killing my plants!!!!!), no more screaming in frustration at both Lucas & MoMo to stop trying to hurt each other and the best is, no more scooping up poop for me :)

Next time, I will adopt a mature dog who is already toilet trained and is calm enough to be with Lucas (but we will also wait for Lucas to be ready which will be a few years from now...)

Meeting

Yesterday when I went to pick Lucas, his teacher called me into the class and asked for a meeting with both parents. Oh my Gawwwdddddddd!!!! Here we go again!!!!! My heart dropped to my Campers and I felt like crying immediately. She said she wanted to discuss some important matters about Lucas - mainly his eating (or non-eating) habits, his french language and he hit one of his pals in school today.

When I got home I immediately picked up the phone and told Fred and all night we were stressing about the meeting.

That night I was so stressed, my gastric started - the pain was so bad, I could not sleep and got up at midnight, looking for something to relief the pain. But I had no meds on hand, so I made do with pieces of toast and warm honey. Thank God, by 2.30 am, the pain subsided and I managed to get some sleep until Lucas woke me up at 5 am.

By noon, I'd broken out in hives.

At 4.30 pm, I was nauseous and a killer headache started.

I walked slowly to the school, like a prisoner walking the green mile to his execution.

On the upside , it was a wonderfully sunny day, almost like summer - it was 30 degrees and the sun was shining brightly.

Maybe its because of such a beautiful day that the teacher was surprisingly gentle with us. She did tell me, "please - don't cry ok?"

No, I wasn't about to cry - I was ready to talk out all the issues and see what I could do to improve with Lucas.

The teacher surprised me by telling me that she is extremely worried that Lucas is not eating in the canteen - apparently he has stopped eating, and refuses to even try the food. He acts up in the canteen, throwing cutleries, stamping feet witha resounding "no" when he is given food. Noelle (the teacher) said that his diet is totally not healthy and that he is existing the whole day on bread, water and crackers and he gets tired because he is not eating well.

I tell her we have that same problem at home - Lucas now only eats chicken nuggets, steak hache, meatballs or fish fingers. He rejects even rice and pasta now. No fruits or veges. He does drink a lot of water to fill his tummy. And he drinks a lot of milk.

For the past week, I have substituted his chocolate biscuits with high fibre crackers. And he doesn't get anymore ice cream. Noelle asked me to take out all things chocolate from Lucas' diet from now on.

We have also started serving Lucas the same food as Fred & I, and he sits at the table even though he doesn't want to eat the food. We all have dessert together after we finish (Lucas' meal is untouched for the past 2 nights). Dessert = vanilla yoghurt.

The past 2 nights Lucas has been going to bed on an empty tummy - this was advised by the paedy. Give him his dinner, if he doesn't eat it, tant pis. Don't give him anything else. So that's what we've been doing.

Noelle also insists that Fred speaks French to Lucas all the time now - which is fair. Fred does tend to revert back to English. But for her to say that my Lucas is not speaking french is not fair. Just this morning, he touched the lamp post outside the school and surprised me by saying "c'est froid!"

What she doesn't realize is that Lucas has only been exposed to french the past 7 months he's been in school. At home, we speak english. So in actual fact, I think he has been doing tremendously well in the recent months. He fully understands what is being said to him in french (Noelle confirms this) but for him to speak it, he sometimes has problems finding the words to express himself and make himself understood, which makes him utterly frustrated and, not knowing how to handle his own frustrations, he takes it out on his friend by hitting. Am I making excuses for Lucas' behavior? No, this is what we observed. When he is frustrated he gets upset. Especially when he is trying to say something and I don't understand him, he gets upset and raises his hand.

Anyway I am just happy that the meeting is over and done with. I am pleased that Lucas has a teacher who cares so much. He is truly blessed. Now, if only we can get him to start eating and trying new food...

Nice, relaxing weekend

I had a really nice weekend :) On Saturday I was with Lucas the whole entire day while Fred had his "time off" taking the glider out for 2 runs. Lucas and I played and relaxed and on the whole it was an easy day for the both of us.
Then today the 3 of us watched Transformers 2 on DVD after a leisurely breakfast - Lucas lost interest after a while, preferring to play with his own robot while we watched the whole movie. Its a really good movie, BTW. You know how the 2nd instalments are usually not as good as the first one; almost always (look at Ironman & Ironman 2) Transformers 2 is the exception! Its just as good, if not better than the first one! I can't wait for the 3rd instalment of Transformers!!!!

I also watched Ashton Kutcher's Kiss & Kill while Fred took Lucas out to the playground for a few hours. Not bad, Ashton's a hottie :)

Too much TV?

How much TV is too much TV? For a toddler like Lucas, I have read that we should restrict TV time to under an hour a day. But on the other hand, without TV (or in Lucas' case, its educational DVDs or Youtube) my son would not have been able to name animals, count til 20, name shapes and colors, sing with Barney, speak Spanish with Dora or sing nursery rhymes with Mother Goose and dance with Pororo.

Every morning when he is having his breakfast, the TV is switched on to Disney Channel - where he watches Agent Oso, followed by Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and then I switch channels to Rolie Polie Olie before he goes to school.

When he comes home, he usually asks for Pororo on the computer or he asks for a DVD while I cook dinner.

In between watching TV, he plays in his room, reads some books with me and I take a few minutes to flash him some cards (depending on his mood, if he feels like them).

So is Lucas getting too much TV? Does watching too much TV make him asocial? And hamper his imagination?

One thing I noticed about Lucas watching animations on YouTube is that he watches them in French, English, Spanish, Korean, Japanese and Italian. I try to limit the languages as Lucas tends to mix all his languages and comes off speaking a coffre of words that makes no sense except for the few english and french words thrown in. But does this mix allow Lucas to be more open to new languages when he grows up? Or is this going to turn into a speech problem for Lucas later on?

Speechwise, he has improved in the past 2 weeks - I find that he is speaking more french now, and his words are enunciated clearly now.

He comes home from school humming and singing - in french. But then he watches Pororo and starts singing in English and Korean as well!

I've decided earlier on that if Lucas is watching an educational DVD, then its fine - as long as he is learning stuff and not watching anything weird or violent (no Tom & Jerry for Lucas!). But the effects of watching more than an hour of TV a day is still not too apparent - should I worry that he does not have an imaginary friend? Does that mean he is not imaginative enough?

But how can he not be imaginative enough when he starts imagining monsters and such and tells me he's scared when the lights are switched off?

Job & such

God works in mysterious ways. Since my return from Malaysia, I have been praying for a sign and I have specifically been praying about going back to Malaysia; planning it to the last detail i.e French School for Lucas, a maid, an apartment within walking distance from the school, jobs etc. I started to apply for jobs in KL. Fred & I talked about what he would do when we moved back.

And then, on a weekend trip to Val D'Azun, Sandra mentioned in passing that her dad has been looking for an english speaking native and wouldn't it be good if I was looking for a job, then I could help her dad out. And Fred laughed and said, yes she's looking for a job! So Sandra called her dad and arranged for an interview for me. That was a month ago.

In that one month while waiting for a start date, many obstacles have come in my way. My boss, Sandra's dad took the wrong meds for his heart and had to be hospitalised, on the day I was supposed to start. After that, another date was given and the night before, he had a heart attack, causing much uproar in the station. No one could take me as they were intimidated by the fact that I spoke english and whilst I've assured them many times that I spoke and understood french, they still want me to be briefed by someone who spoke english - and that means my boss who is in hospital!

Now that we know he will be indisposed for the next 6 months, I am waiting for the new interim boss to speak to me. The past 17 days has been frustrating; I get up early and get ready for work - only to get that last minute phone call for me to stay put until further instructions. No biggie, a lot of people say cos I am still getting paid to play the waiting game but it gets irritating after a while - especially last Saturday when I woke up at 6 am to start work in Lourdes by 8 - the phone call came at 7.10 am and I was already driving out of Tarbes.

Finally the new boss tells me to sit and wait for a week while she sorts out the mess at the station. So this past week I have been more relaxed and not jump everytime the phone rings.

God works in mysterious ways, for sure. I was supposed to start Feb 2nd, then it was pushed to the 18th. And I was dreading missing out on Lucas' Carnaval at school (which I didn't) and then worrying about Lucas' 2 week school vacation. But with God's intervention, I managed to spend precious moments with Lucas while he is on his 2 week break.

In the past 1.5 weeks, I noticed my son getting bigger and speaking so much more now, in french and in english. He is also settling down and more calm; he eats at the table (for 15 minutes, sitting down) and he is getting more independant by the day! He is growing up so fast! If I had been at the office the past couple of weeks I would have missed all the milestones.

Lucas now gets the tissue paper to wipe his mouth after he finishes his chocolate milk every morning; and he throws away empty wrappers and milk cartons after he finishes - he says "poubelle" everytime.

He tries to clean himself after doing the deed in the toilet as well. He helps with cleaning up. New foods this month are cordon bleu dinde (turkey cordon bleu) and meatballs.

Favourite songs to sing - Pororo's Ribbit Frog, Incy wincy spider, rain rain go away and twinkle twinkle little star.

Lucas brings his coat and shoes to me when we are about to go out and when we come home, he takes off his coat and shoes himself and puts them back in their place. He chooses what he wants to wear and literally preens when I tell him he is handsome!

Favourite cartoons - Rolie Polie Olie, Pororo and Horton hears a Who.

Doctors

After living here for 20 months, I finally moved my ass and went to the gynae. My MIL helped me make an appointment 2 months earlier (yes, it takes 2-3 months waiting time for an appointment with gynaecologists or dermatologists here as there are so few of them) with Dr.Netter and went with me to my first appointment. Dr. Netter is a soft spoken, gentle woman and by far the best gynae I've ever been to as there was no pain, no discomfort and no bleeding right after!

She also sent me for a blood test after I told her about my monthly problems and a good thing too, as the blood test results showed me to be severely anaemic (3 out of 20). When I got my test results and my MIL saw it she insisted I go see our family doctor immediately. As usual I am reluctant as the wait at the clinic can take hours, but when I finally did, the doctor gave me a thorough check up and kept asking me if I had heart pains or chest pains. I didn't understand the significance of that or of all the fuss the doctors made over the blood test but after reading about severe anaemia on the internet I now know that as the red blood cells carry oxygen to our organs, lack of red blood cells mean lack of oxygen and that may cause one organ or more to be deprived of the much needed oxygen.

Dr. Netter called me to see her urgently too when she got the results and kept asking me if I was tired or have any difficulty breathing. She insists that anytime I am feeling tired I must call her. I tried to explain that I have had anaemia for many years now and am surprised by all the fuss; and she explained that I am at borderline needing transfusion, thus all the urgency.

Both doctors have now put me on medications which I must take 3 times a day, and I have another blood test coming up in a month.

This morning, I left Lucas in school early as I had an appointment for a mammogram. I was prepared to wait, with my Ipod and a book but to my surprise, the technician called me in at 8.15 am sharp. It was a painful experience - I was joking with my friend Cathy just last week as she told me that she hates going for mammograms as they are so painful and I remember saying to her, well, I wouldn't have that problem cos I am not a D cup like her. But fricking hell, it was painful for me too! I am just glad I only need to do this every 2 years.

Happy New Year!

Lucas has crossed many milestones since I last blogged. Its amazing how fast he's growing; its almost as if he is trying his darnest to catch up!

Firstly, he is now fully toilet trained - yay!!!! It was by accident that he is now doing both no.1 and no.2 in the toilet. The NY weekend was a long one and no shops were open ( Fred drove around for an hour looking for one...) and we'd run out of diapers. So we decided - this is it; Lucas will just have to learn to sleep without a diaper. On the first night, before he went to sleep, I reminded him repeatedly that he will no longer have a diaper, so if he needs to pee, he will wake up to go to the toilet. And Voila! like magic, he woke up twice that night and the bed was dry!

However, the next 2 nights he didn't manage to get up on time, and I've had to change him but not the beddings. And for the last 2 nights, he goes to the toilet before he gets to bed, and sleeps through the night!

He also caught up very fast when he wanted to do his ka-ka and didn't have a diaper. I had to bribe him at first but now, he's going to the toilet like a pro!

He's so cute, when he does the 'drop' he says "very good! Bravo!" and then he gets up, points to the toilet and says "mama! chocolat!" (LOLS!!!!!)

Lucas has also started spending all day in school, eating (yes, eating!!!!) in the canteen with his friends. He is also starting to speak in french and loves talking on the telephone.

My fearless little boy is no longer fearless - he is scared of the dark; and when he gets up onto the playgym and climbs too high, he is scared and doesn't know how to get down.

He is into smurfs and robots, he has a collection of both toys. He loves watching and reading anything with robots in them. And his appetite has improved, though he is still not eating his veges.

Lucas is still asking for Santa Claus and presents, even though Christmas is over - somehow he still doesn't understand (or he refuses to understand) that Santa only comes once a year... He wakes me up every morning asking to open presents from Santa....

Brothers & Sisters

I was watching Season 2 of Brothers & Sisters last night til really late. This morning when Lucas came looking for me, I thought it was still night (when it was actually early morning but because our electric shutters do not allow even a smidgen of light through, its all dark in the apartment and one can easily lose track of time that way) and brought him into our bed for more sleep. Before I know it, Fred hops out of bed and told me its 11.15 in the morning!!!! We had a wonderful sleep in, and are feeling rested and happy :)

Anyway, back to the series - being a mother, I worry that Lucas will grow up all alone. For sure, he will not have any first cousins here as Gilles will not be getting married or having any kids. And as I watch the series with envy (because to me that's exactly how a family should be, full of support and love and close camaraderie and that's what I want for Lucas) I find myself wishing things could be different.
I grew up in a dysfunctional family and I do not want that for Lucas at all. But I now realize that, what I cannot get from my family, I get it in abundance from my friends. My friends have become my family. I realized that during my last trip home - I am indeed lucky to have my cousin Allan, and most importantly I have really, really good friends who are true.

But for Lucas, who will grow up here in France, he will only have Fred & I and his grandma. Fred is also from a dysfunctional family of sorts (its proven that one from a dysfunctional family inadvertently attracts the same) and is not close to his cousins at all - his aunt lives less than 30 minutes away from us and we see her once a year, so for Lucas to meet up with his cousins once a year is not good enough to build a strong bond.
I would like Lucas to have childhood friends like I have, where years can pass with us not seeing each other yet when we meet again, we are still close and its as if no time have passed at all!

I wish we could give him a sibling or two or even three to grow up with but time is not on our side. If we can afford it I would have liked to adopt another child. But for now, I am glad that Lucas has gotten back into contact with his best buddy from the garderie, Plume and he has his 2 constant friends Matheo & Ixchel to play with.

Lucas @ 38 months

I found out that taking Lucas out of school for a whole month was a terrible idea even though he is just in the petit section at school, he has missed out on a lot and when he got back to school again in November, Lucas has had to readjust himself and start everything new as he'd forgotten everything he'd learnt in September.

Fred & I had a chat with his teacher and found that while Lucas is great when it comes to one on one interaction, he is lost in a group. The teacher also told me that as a parent I have been too indulgent and with Lucas I need to set strict boundaries and not give in at all. He needs to spend time by himself, and not be with me 24/7. To distance myself a bit, we decided to leave Lucas in school for lunch last week.

The first day, he was confused and asked for me repeatedly; didn't eat anything but bread in the canteen. On our second try, Lucas ate absolutely nothing at all and threw a mother of a tantrum in the canteen. When I went to pick him up after school, the teacher says we should try another day. So, on our third try, Lucas didn't eat anything (as usual, he doesn't eat much at home either) but this time there was no tantrum.

In the past week and a half, we have also noticed differences in Lucas - he has started to listen more; he definitely understands when we talk to him and he is now differentiating his languages when he speaks to me, his papa and his teachers. I also noticed that he is picking up french very quickly.

Last Wednesday, for the first time I was able to sweep, vacuum and mop the whole apartment, clean the bathroom and cook lunch without having Lucas underfoot! I told him to stay in his room and play, which he did. Periodically, I would check in and find him singing and playing at the same time.

While we are still having problems getting Lucas to go to sleep at night, he's been sleeping in his bed throughout the night the past 2 nights. Yesterday he didn't come to our bed at all.

At 38 months, Lucas loves Dora The Explorer, Pat the Postman, Oui Oui, Handy Manny and Chloe Magique. He loves balloons and bubbles, he now refuses to pee into his diapers at night (yes he still wears diapers to sleep) and he's still asking for ice cream no matter how cold it is! He is also fascinated by falling snow, he likes to taste the snow and he likes to pretend he is a cat at home, playing under the dining table and eating without hands...

Lucas is now on Christmas holidays for 2 weeks, going back to school early January. He is asking for Eliane (the teacher's assistant in his class) everyday and wakes up thinking he will go to school. Its a shame that when he is making so much progress we have to have a break from school but then there is always January to look forward to.... :)

Public again

This blog has been made public once again - In the many months before someone who didn't like (or could not accept) what I said about him and decide to go crying to mommy, when it was public I have made many friends through this blog and I decided that its just not worth hiding anymore; I'd rather take out that one post and continue to meet new friends through my blog.

December in photos

Before the snowfall

Our tree is finally up!

paper wreath made from recycled wrapping paper & my 2008 Starbucks diary

Bully

I think I did a little boo-boo today :(

There is this angelic looking blonde boy in Lucas' class who is downright mean to Lucas, everytime he sees Lucas. When Lucas wanted to go play with him, he would start "shooting" at Lucas, with full sound effects and runs around Lucas shooting at him. A few times he'd shouted that Lucas is not my friend!

So this afternoon when I dropped Lucas off at school and we were walking in through the gates, along comes this boy and his younger brother and his pregnant mom. Lucas is happily walking to his class, minding his own business when this blondie comes running to Lucas with his brother and he starts his irritating "shooting" sounds again. His mother doesn't seem to care and since they didn't touch Lucas I didn't say anything, even though I was annoyed.

Then, his younger brother suddenly ran forward and with both hands pushed Lucas! My reflex reaction was to raise my voice and say "hey! stop!". All the mother did was pull her son off and gave me a dirty look, like I should not have shouted at her bully of a son.

Should I not have shouted? Should I have smacked that little twerp instead? His own mother doesn't seem to think that he's done anything wrong... Am I being over protective here?

KL and beyond Part 2

Since our trip back to KL, I found that a lot has changed in the past 2 years. KL is more expensive than what I remember, I find that I no longer tolerate traffic jams, the taxis that Lucas and I took are clean and now go by meters though I have to say the meters have surely been tampered with - a one way trip from IKEA back to KLCC cost me RM32.

One thing is for sure - I miss my friends back in KL. I miss hanging out with them, attending dinner parties, going out, watching movies or just the leisurely coffee.
In KL, after we left Grace's, I was feeling a bit unsettled - its not the same when you don't have your own place to go back to. I miss having my own car and my own apartment in KL.
I even miss the thought of going to work, getting all dressed up and ready to face the day.

Lucas' sleep routine went back to normalcy within the first week we got back to France, except now, he wants to sleep with us in our bed. But his sleep hours are fine.
Lucas has also started to attend afternoon classes at school. So now, every morning I send him to school at 9am, pick him up at noon for lunch, then send him back to school at 2pm and pick him up at 5pm.
It was a hard first week, as he was adjusting to going back to school and he also had an infection under his foreskin which hurt; Lucas also would not nap in school during his afternoon class and I was told by his teacher that if he doesn't nap, Lucas cannot attend the afternoon class anymore.
By some miracle, Lucas actually started napping on his 2nd afternoon class. So now he is more adjusted.
I've noticed that in the past couple of days he would disappear into his room to read. He still comes running for a "big hug" but he is not as clingy anymore.

I am still having problems feeding him vegetables - he refuses to touch them! But Lucas is now eating apples, yoghurt and steak hache (hamburger meat). I try to give him a variety but it takes a long time for Lucas to eat something new. He still loves his chicken nuggets, french fries, fish fingers, macaroni and pesto and he eats chunks of cheese. His chocolate intake has been cut down to a chocolate cookie for school and his chocolate milk. Since KL, he has stopped taking his bottle of milk before bed.

As for potty training, I managed to get him to do his ka-ka in the toilet twice before he regressed and asked for his beloved pampers again... Nowadays he uses his pampers only at night (or when he needs to "go"). And I have started putting him on the potty before he goes to sleep to try to get him ready to go without his diapers when he sleeps at night. So far he still pees into his pull ups at night.

KL and beyond part 1

Its been over 6 weeks since I last blogged, except for the previous one on Lucas' 3rd birthday. In case some of you do not know, Lucas & I have been away for a month, and although we have been back in rainy & cold Tarbes for the past 2 weeks now, I am still feeling out of sorts and maybe a little jet lagged...

On the day Lucas & I left Toulouse for Amsterdam & KL, we'd heard that there was going to be a strike at the airport. Lucky for us we were booked on KLM and could check in online AND choose our seats online 30 hours before departure which was exactly what we did. BTW this route is perfect, the departure time from TLS to AMS is late evening and then we immediately board onto another flight to KL (only an hour's wait at Schipol).

I made a mistake thinking we had a 4 hour wait at Schipol. On top of that I also left my stroller at the cityhopper plane (we had to catch a bus to the main airport) AND lost our boarding passes. After getting all of that sorted out, we had 30 minutes to run to the gates and board the plane to KL! I'd only realize I made that mistake about the 4 hour wait after I got issued the 2nd set of boarding passes.

It was a full, full flight and the seats we got were non reclinable :(

Lucas was too amped up to settle down and sleep so it was a bit difficult the first 4 hours but he finally slept til the plane landed in KL.

The first thing that hit me when my cousin picked us up from KLIA was the heat! In KL, Lucas & I were taking one shower after another because we would literally start perspiring the minute we got out of the shower!

I had planned to stay with friends who have invited us, but in the end we stayed put at Grace & Duncan's. Lucas fell in love with both Grace and Dunc, calling Grace "mama" several times...!

And the apartment was so convenient and so near to another friend, Theresa's place that Lucas could go "hang out" with his buddies Mikhele & Gio when we were not busy shopping.

We had a wonderful time in KL, spending precious time with friends who, inspite of the distance and time apart, remained true.

Bali started with one disaster - a so called friend who had just moved to Bali invited Lucas & I to stay with her - which was why I booked us tickets to Bali for a whole week. A month before our departure she cancelled on us (!!!) stating that she now has a "villa mate" and it was no longer convenient.

But Lucas & I managed to make the best of our extra time in Bali, thanks to our tour guide extraodinaire, Nyoman. He was not only a taxi driver, he was my meal companion, babysitter (he babysat while I went for my mani & pedi), baby carrier whenever Lucas wanted to be carried, shopping bags carrier, he knew the best places to shop and the best place to have nasi bebek! He was also there for us when we had a spiritual encounter in one of the hotels in Seminyak - Nyoman immediately turned back and came to get us and brought us to another hotel. Before that he tried to get a refund from the hotel for us as well.

For those of you who have asked me many times what I saw, I am not actually supposed to talk about it, so suffice to say a shadow flitting in the shower stall's smoked glass is all I can tell you.

The GM of that hotel apparently moonlights as a bomoh, cos he turned up at my room (Luc & I were waiting outside) with a bag of prayer stuff... He knocked at the door and asked for permission before he entered... And yet he denied that there was anything in that room! In fact, I think the whole hotel is haunted, because the GM changed rooms for us, stated that the room is clean AND safe; then said "but I advise you to sleep with all the lights on" (!!!!)

Anyway, next time any of you are tempted to stay in an authentic Balinese hotel, be careful when booking online. The photos are not what they seem. Honestly you are better off booking a Harris Room at the Harris Hotel. Lucas & I stayed there one night - it comes equipped with a living room, a kitchenette, a king sized bed, a kid's club where you can leave your kids there to play, a kid's pool and fantastic staff! All that, for USD78 a night.



Harris Room



Bedroom at Harris

The best time we had in Bali was of course at The Istana in Uluwatu where June's wedding was held. Lucas & I stayed there 5 days and it was truly paradise! I got Lucas a nanny (AUD45 for 12 hours) and I was able to rest a little and even go to the spa.

Lucas turns 3

My baby Lucas,

How on earth did three years pass us by already? We celebrated your birthday in Malaysia twice, once at McDonalds in Ipoh and another with all your friends in Aunty Theresa's place. I couldn't help but reflect on the day you came into our lives 3 years ago - You are truly mama's miracle baby and one who brings so much joy to everyone who knows you. You are my little social baby, making friends and endearing yourself to everyone you meet.

This past year, as fast as it flew by has been such a fun one for you. You decided not to wait til you mastered English and French, instead you made up your own language and mixed it with both english and french (with bits of Spanish and Mandarin thrown in...) When you are at home, you are such an easy little boy, especially when your favourite DVD is on, but when you are out in any sort of wide open spaces, the chase is on. Friends, family, neighbors and strangers alike will attest to that. We get lots of comments on your high energy, some a bit patronizing, but we wouldn't change your love for life and the world around you for anything! (But I could really do without the chasing after you part)

Despite of your generally happy nature, you've started making such a fuss everytime we put you in bed for your nap! Its as if you feel like you are missing out on something important everytime you take a nap.

You have visited your naughty corner many times this past year and even though your sentence is only a minute, you show your unhappiness at being punished by crying as loud as you possibly can, and then after a while, you come over for a hug, saying "sorry mama".

Since Malaysia, you have become even more attached to your "lovey" and you are now rediscovering your love of brushing your teeth with toothpaste (though you really should not be swallowing the toothpaste and then asking for more).

You love:

Chocolates (especially ferero rocher & M&Ms peanuts) , pizza, chicken nuggets, fish fingers, ice cream, popcorn, chicken rice, milo, nesquik, peanut butter sandwiches, coconut yoghurt, cheese, pesto in your pasta, cream based spaghetti, Mickey, Thomas, watching "UP", Legos and building blocks, Baby Bright & Sesame Street, balls, balloons, cars, swimming, going for walks, cycling with papa, dancing and listening to music, playgrounds and especially the slides, saucisson and apples, Pororo, Dibo the gift dragon and Barney, bubbles and all animals, including birds, worms, bees and spiders.

You still need your diapers to "do the deed" or you can also do without, in your pants... anywhere but the potty! Your best friend is 4 year old Ixchel. You assert your independance these days by telling me what you want to wear and what you do not want to wear. You seem to prefer the company of adults. You can count 1 to 10- in 3 languages! You can also name colors, shapes and sizes, you recognize numbers and alphabets. You know how to work the TV, DVD player and CD player.

You are full of mischief and endless energy. I thank God everyday for such a wonderful baby, a happy and loving baby like you. You are forever mama's boy :)

September - Lucas @ 35 months

This is the longest I've ever gone without blogging ... what can I say? Life caught up with me; I've been so busy I haven't even had the time to facebook! I thought that with Lucas in school 4 times a week, I'd have more time but I find myself even busier. When Lucas is in school I do the groceries, clean the apartment, do the laundry (not everyday) and then its time to pick Luc and make lunch!

Recently Lucas has been resisting sleep so much he would only nap if I napped with him :)

He would cling onto me so that I could not escape and the slightest movement will stir him from his nap. Today however I managed to get out of bed without waking him and he went on to nap for the full 2 hours.

Ever since Lucas started school, he's been excited about going to school. Yes I am one of the lucky ones, as Lucas doesn't cry unconsolably when I leave him in school. He happily wakes up every morning asking for school. When the school gates open he's running off like the wind towards his classroom. His is one of the first few names remembered by his teachers and Lucas, I am very proud to say is one of the first in his class of 27 to recognize his name written on a laminated card. Every morning every kid has to pick up their names and stick it on the board for roll call. Lucas picked his up by himself the 2nd day at school.

However, when it comes to potty training, he's had 3 accidents in school so far; the last one was a biggie! Luckily he did it in his pants during playtime outside and right after, it was time to go home. I am not sure if his teacher noticed, cos I actually didn't notice anything when I went to pick him, until we got home.

Lucas and I fly off to Malaysia this Saturday, and hopefully he will be fully potty trained by the time he gets back to school after Toussaint.

Lucas' new room

Moving Day

Lucas enjoying the paddle pool on a hot hot day

My 1st "accident" - I found the car "stuck" to mine when I got out of the shops

Child labor!

Lucas & papa, both in PJs

Watering plants - his favourite pastime!

Monday

Monday...

Now that I have a school going toddler, I find myself waking up earlier than usual; to get breakfast ready and myself ready before waking Lucas to get him ready for school. My angel's day went fine today - I can't help it, I worry everytime I drop him off; worry about potty accidents, worry about him throwing tantrums and screaming, worry that he would hurt himself playing in school, worry he would come home with head lice (the lice shampoo ads are everywhere on TV!!!) ...

Everytime I go pick Lucas up, I expect the teacher to tell me something is wrong. And everytime I breathe a sigh of relief when she doesn't say anything other than calling out to Lucas to let him know that I was there.

Anyway, first week of school and all, and the teachers are already starting their strike (no school tomorrow as the teachers are on strike!) I suppose that is one bad thing about public schools; but at least the school put a note in Lucas' communication book to let us know that they will be on strike...

Today I pretended to cry when Lucas pinched my cheeks and was surprised to hear him say "why you cry?" and after, he said "pourquoi tu pleure?"

I have a feeling that in a couple of months Lucas will be speaking more french than I... and I'd better start to buck up and finish my french exercises!!!

Fred finally "fenced" up the fence so that we would have more privacy. The fencing ( material made of branches) was not cheap at all (50 euros for 3 metres); but cheaper than using wood and more ecological than using plastic. Next up, we have to dig up all the thistle and dandelions in the garden, and hopefully plant some Fall shrubs - too late to start a potager now, we will do it next Spring instead.

I took a friend's advice about using tea tree oil and Vicks to deter the cats from coming into the garden - it seems to be working but then it rained tonight so I suppose I may have to redo the whole process tomorrow...

What a week!

The past week has been totally crazy for us. We finally moved into our new home (yay!!!!) with the help of some terrific friends. I really wasn't expecting a lot and was actually worried that we'd end up moving stuff by ourselves (even though our friends said they would help, I didn't think that the commitment level was that high), but on moving day, everyone turned up on time and since Fred had already started to move boxes of stuff the night before, we were off to a really good start.

The heavies (frigo, TV, cabinets etc) were done in a couple of hours. The girls were really fantastic - they helped me clean up the old apartment, including getting down on their knees and rubbing alcohol to get rid of marks left behind by Lucas' stickers. AND Cathy even made pizza for lunch - we ended up at my MIL's for lunch before resuming work at the new apartment. MIL took the task of taking care of Lucas for the entire day (a first, with many more to come I hope!) and prepared dinner for us later that night.

Week 1 in our new home, I still haven't unpacked another dozen boxes, most of which are my clothes and bags and shoes. The girls visited 2 days ago with a nectarine flan for tea. I have met our neighbours and the 2 neighborhood cats that regularly poo in my garden. (If anyone of you reading this has a tip on how to stop the cats from coming to my garden and making deposits - any help will be appreciated!)

On another note, Lucas started his ecole Maternelle last Thursday. He was one of the few kids who did not cry, but we did get reprimanded by the maitresse for putting pull-ups on him (I was worried about accidents, but the maitresse told me not to put any form of diapers on Lucas or else he has to stay home!!!)

So, I spent another sleepless night worrying about Lucas' potty training and sent him to school on Friday sans diaper. I spent another 3 hours worrying while he was in school but to my delight, he was dry and clean when I picked him up. AND he went to the school toilet to pee.

Back at home, Lucas is no longer using the diaper except when he goes to sleep - I am not ready to deal with sleepless nights changing linens just yet; and even when we go out, Lucas is able to be without his diaper. Of course there were a couple of accidents, but more with his "deposits".

Yesterday Lucas gave Fred his birthday present when he finally "ka-ka" sitting on the toilet. Later that evening he told me again "ka-ka" but then he got distracted by some food and I thought that he would do the deed later... but nope, he did it in his underwear while eating!

Same thing happened today when I went out grocery shopping and Lucas was home with Fred. He told Fred "ka-ka" and Fred thought he could wait but he didn't. Both times were our fault. Now if Lucas tells us "ka-ka" we will put him on the toilet ASAP.

One good thing I noticed at the school is that the maitresse managed to get Lucas to sit still. Both times when I went to pick him up, he was sitting down waiting for me. That in itself is a miracle. The maitresse (Noelle) told Fred that when Lucas doesn't listen she gives him "the look" :)

I am happy that Lucas has Noelle who is fantastic with him and shows him immediately who is the boss :) Lucas needs a lot of boundaries and Noelle knows it.

Next up, when Lucas is feeling more adjusted about the school, I will leave him there for lunch at the canteen.

We indeed have lots to be thankful for - good friends, a wonderful teacher for Lucas and our new home!

More potty stories

Today Lucas frantically called for me and came running into the kitchen where I was doing a load of laundry with a diaper in his hand. Apparently he really needed to go cos he then climbed happily (usually I ahve to chase him) onto our bed so I could put on the diaper.

After he finished he promptly came to me and pulled me into the bathroom and said "shower, wash bum bum".

That was when I noticed that Lucas had earlier peed into the potty and then emptied the potty in the bath tub, and put back the potty in its corner...