Random things they say

Baby Taz 's speciality is to repeat

'C'est pas juste !' whenever he feels indignated or left out.

Lil Miss N often says to me ' Tu es la parfaite mummy !' or

'Tu es mon grand amour pour toujours/toute la vie'

Baby Taz will continually say 'On a pas ça' which can be heard most often after the bombardment of toy advertisements during the busiest period of the year preceding Christmas/Noël as that is the best time to rouse and brainwash children into action and hence indirectly influencing parents' and general public's gift buying/purchasing decisions.

Happy 4th birthday Baby Taz

Petit note : Baby Taz's birthday falls on the 6th of December and as disorganised a mum as I am failed to post in time to coincide with his real date.

6th of December 2011 : Baby Taz turned 4 !

Today marks the anniversary of Baby Taz's entry into the world via voie basse four years ago !

We had a small albeit just between the six of us celebration. As requested by Baby Taz (true to his namesake/astrological sign the Golden Pig) the little party involved copious amounts of all les interdites aka junk food : chips, boissons gazeuses galore, nuggets, bâtonnets de poissons panés, frites, bonbons, Rimuss (champagne sans alcool) and un gâteau d'anniversaire décoré haphazardly with crème chantilly and dispersés de bonbons.

Baby Taz received little cadeaus : complets and une photophore/bougeoir de Noël. I hope to celebrate it with some friends in about a months time so there will be more ambience de Fête but for now this will do.

Joyeux anniversaire mon petit cochon (with the dearest sentiments) !!!!!!!!!!

Nous nous t'aimons !

Mummy, Bo, Petit Suisse, Lil Miss N et Lil Miss Feisty

Sagesse

Petit Suisse annoyed because his toys and personal belongings have been tempered with once again by Baby Taz huffs and puffs whilst maintaining and insisting

'J'aimerais que Baby Taz grandisse plus vite, comme ça il sera puni quand il fait les bêtises. Il est embettant !!!!!!!!'

Petit Suisse this saying is for you

'Before one grows old and wise one must be young and stupid.'

I hope it serves to remind you that youth sometime has its drawbacks and other times youth is what humanity holds onto in order to perpetuate immortality which to this day has yet to be attained or achieved!

Maybe one day as nothing is impossible.

Frustrations !

The biggest frustration at the moment for me would be the misunderstanding that arises out of not being able to comprehend langage de Baby Taz and Lil Miss Feisty. Baby Taz will request and demand certain things which to him are self evident but I for the life of me cannot understand his desire/want/need/request because of the language difficulty. He is at that stage where his pronounciation is far from illuminating, instead it is mired with trappings as I often attempt and try my hardest to no avail. Lil Miss Feisty suffers from the same fate. I have extreme difficulty understanding their requests and expressions. Often they will be frustrated because they cannot get through to me, I then turn to Petit Suisse and Lil Miss N for assistance but they too are at a loss as to what Baby Taz and/or Lil Miss Feisty are trying to say. I feel debilitated and helpless at my lack of understanding and inability to comprehend the sensibilities with which they communicate. The two are rendered utterly confused because they cannot fathom how it is possible for me not to be able to fulfil their simple requests. They become more and more agitated to the point of hopelessness. They then frustrate me to no end when they begin their 'crises' and cries and fits of tantrum. The more agitated, the louder the crying and the more frustrated they become...until I simply yell out 'STOP'. It takes a catalyst or some sort to end the misery. Miserable ending but the best solution I have found is to distract them (when they have tired themselves out with all the sulking, temper and hissy fit throwing) by proposing an activity or my last resort television. The ultimate bribe when nothing else works. Sweets of any kind also help.

It will be easier with time and the older they get the clearer their self-expressions and explications will be so I will not have to second guess myself when it comes to their needs and wants.

In the meantime distraction is the key !!!

Monsieur Catastrophe !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

One year of tending to and tender loving care for an orchid was dashed by a few seconds of a case of fiddly hands and sticky fingers.

I had cautiously tended to my orchid as if it was my fifth kid and Baby Taz in one of his moments des bêtises snipped all of the buds that were ready for flowering. The blooms were heartlessly tweaked and hence I am left with an orchid that will not bloom or flower this year eventhough I had been patiently waiting to witness the first blooms of spring. It was a dissapointing denouement.

Sometime Baby Taz renders me powerlessly at a loss for words due to the silly mischief he wields.

He profusely apologised but that did not console or soothe my loss. I really wanted to see the blooming orchids. Blooming hell !

Shrek's misery

We have had a long drawn out and painfully excruciating history with bed wetting by the two boys in our family : i.e. Petit Suisse and now Baby Taz.

I remember waking up almost every morning for days on end with a bed soaked in pipi when Petit Suisse was in the process of being nappy-free at night. Mind you he was quite a late bloomer re his potty training: he only managed to be nappy-free during daytime when he was almost four which had us all a little bit worried because apparently there is pressure for kids who are about to embark on kindergarden to be propre. He was nearing the beginning of the school year before he finally kicked his nappies to the curb but not without un besoin pour les nuits. Anyway we had a wrenching and highly frustrating time back then. It was beyond my comprehension how he could urinate so much when he apparently had no liquid intake at night and had (or so I thought) emptied his bladder.

Now is no different : except the big difference being Baby Taz has a bad habit of drinking a minimum of one bottle of water before he can lull himself to sleep. He insists on drinking the water before he will succumb to some shut-eye. He has a tendency to urinate and thereby soaking and soiling the bedsheets, mattress protector and the mattress itself. Shrek as our designated household launderer is pained by such an endless amount of soiled and dirty laundry : bedsheets, mattress protector, blankets, sleeping bags and constant flow of clothes.

I feel his pain and I make it a point of taking Baby Taz to do a wee in the middle of the night and changing him two times and yet he still manages to wet the bed !!!

Frustration lingering and continuing.

I do hope that this saga will end before his fourth birthday. Baby Taz you can be so bothersome, exasperating and a vexing pest in so many ways but we still love you nonetheless, we just wished you'd grow up a bit more and become more responsible and less troublesome.

Handsome stud !

Baby Taz khong co moche translated to Baby Taz is not ugly

Baby Taz dep trai translated to Baby Taz is handsome

Baby Taz khong co hu*: Baby Taz is not naughty

Baby Taz ngoan: Baby Taz is good

etc

Basically according to Baby Taz he is a well-behaved and utterly handsome boy. I have no idea as to where his vanité appartient. He insists adamantly that he is indeed handsome and sage. My only feasable explanation Tel père, tel fils ! One cannot escape ones own gene pool or ones' parents influence.

Whose fault ?

When pointing at a stain on the wall (one of the many in our apartment) and inquisitively demanding Baby Ben

'Who did this ?'

Quick as a flash and without the slightest hint of hesitation her reply echoed back

'Baby Taz did it.'

Our family consists of finger pointing and it begins at the tender young age of not yet two.

This in fact applies to a myriad of faults, whatever the fault or damage is Baby Ben will be quick to point out that it is her brother Baby Taz (who is by no means innocent) who had dunnit. Baby Taz in turn blames her for every other offence.

On the same token Lil Miss N complained that Baby Ben was bothering her and had headbutted her which resulted in pain and loose teeth. She went on to poutily declare that

'It is Bo's (Shrek) fault as it was his idea of wanting a family of four kids at least resulting in effectively four kids and consequences of having a younger brother and sister implies that I cannot have peace and quiet anymore'

When will the finger pointing stop ? In fact it never really will because human nature dictates that before navel gazing and figuring out our own faults we will blame others, nature, goverments, parents and anyone or anything other than ourselves before we finally realise that 'We are responsible for our own mistakes, faux pas and must own up to it or it will catch up with us eventually.'

Baby Taz's language evolution

Phrases that Baby Taz are throwing around :

Je vais tout dire à mummy
ça va tomber (repeatedly)
c'est quoi ça
Baby Taz khong muon can be translated to Baby Taz veut pas ça
Baby Taz khong thich can be translated to Baby Taz n'aimes pas ça
Ngay mai mummy mua nha' meaning Mummy will buy it (it being anything) tomorrow
C'est pas bon
C'est pas moi
Bo pété
C'est gagné (thanks Dora)
...

He is expanding his vocabulary and is speaking more sentences and phrases everyday.
He is becoming a precious little boy.
Apart from his temperamental 'crises' and non-stop repetitive and annoying obsessions he is an adorably cute boy. Love you baby Taz

Rambunctious one has struck again

I was furious as I was rudely awaken by his moaning as he was laying literally in a swampy bed (puddle) of pee and moaning nonetheless as it must have been bothering him.
How Baby Taz managed to entirely wet his half of the bed including but not limited to soaking the mattress, alèse, sleeping bag and his clothes and yet maintaining his nappy dry is beyond me !!!!!!!
That boy has the utmost talent for infuriating me... He was profusely apologetic as I was close to reaming him out *.



* ream out : (slang) to scold or reprimand severely

Happy 3rd birthday !

Happy third birthday to my rambunctious little rascal aka Baby Taz.
He was born on St Nicolas' day although he is anything but saintly.
He was doe-eyed and taken by complete surprise as he is not accustomed to the whole blowing out the candle process..
We only celebrated his birthday with a Pandoro and sparking grapejuice but no matter he was still awestruck as if he could not believe that the attention was focused and centred on him eventhough he had not done anything naughty up until that moment save the hour long kicking, screaming and wailing fest. He repeatedly said 'Bo biet lam' roughly translated to 'Daddy knows how to fix it!' in relation to a computer game at Ikea that wasn't working. He played that phrase for an hour without any hint of fatigue or exhaustion and only stopped when we went under the rain and he forgot completely because he was so absorbed by the leftover almost all melted snow on the ground.

Happy birthday little baby boy and here's to many more to come !

Baby Taz is a copycat

Baby Taz is incredulously wondrous when it comes to speech.

When I say 'Baby Taz est beau'
He can be heard saying
'Mama est beau'

If I tell him 'Baby Taz or you are naughty'
He will immediately fire back 'Mama is naughty'

'Baby Taz is clever' will be met with ' Mama is clever'

'Love Moy everyday' and he will say 'Love nanna (his grandma) everyday'

and so on and so forth

Brother and sister

Baby Taz is quite fond of his lil sis Bb Ben whom he affectionately refers to as bébé.
Typical scenario of Bb Ben running amuck in the shopping centre or supermarket and me breathlessly threatening her that I will leave her.... hoping that out of fear she will comply and obey and most importantly follow me. Baby Taz does not realise that I am just menacing without real intention of leaving her behind and he stutters 'Mummy, please wait a minute, please wait, don't leave bébé behind, please wait a sec mummy' over and over all the while pushing Bb Ben or dragging her like his ragdoll to ensure she will not be abandoned.

Drawing a conclusion from that scenario I conclude that Baby Taz is very fond of Bb Ben and dread the thought of losing her eventhough he is the one who will often unintentionally and intentionally rough her up by pushing her, dragging her or inadmittenly hitting her. He is such a complex little porcinet. Sibling rivalry for attention and affection is very much alive.

Baby language evolution

Fourmi, fourmi, fourmiiiiiiii !

Baby Taz is fascinated by birds, insects and ants in particular.

He knows how to say bird, ant and dog.

His vocabulary is broadening ever so slowly.

He knows how to kid around and when asked 'where's Baby Taz?' He will respond Baby Taz here but points towards someone else. He knows to play round.

Vocabulary of a 2 year old

Baby Taz has added to his impressive vocabulary the following


'Oui Mama' which I love, I have got to admit the boy is right here

and
'Yo yo mec!' which has the equivalent of 'Yoh dude' or 'Hey dude!'

Potty training

Baby Taz has made some inroads into his potty training but it is still less than optimal.

He has in fact regressed and only does wee-wee when prompted and coerced or beguiled into doing it via immitation of his older bro.

He does habitually poo-poo in the bowl though so at least he is caca-trained.

Night time is still completely covered by nappies.

BricoNöel

Petit Suisse and Lil Miss N fabricated and crafted Christmas ornaments avec soin. They were for the most part decorative candle holders (bougeoirs) and an apéritif centrepiece crafted out of pâte à sel aka salt dough. There was a guirlande punctuated with a dried orange slice, felt heart-shaped jingle bell as well as a felt Xmas tree ornament which doubles as a perfumed wardrobe/closet scenter and finally a pretty pot of pine cones. Little baby Taz did contribute one candle holder which he decorated haphazardly with pebbles and stones.

There is no greater way to show my appreciation for their efforts than by proudly displaying their handiworks.

I am a very proud mummy and what better time than the festive season to display their triumphant crafts(wo)manship.

Carrot boy

Baby Taz should be renamed as Carrot boy as carrots are the only vegetable he consumes with glee and abandon, especially when it is mushy. Baby Taz tends to prefer mush over chewy food.

BabTaz suffers from constipation because he refuses to eat veggies or fruits hence stunting his fibre intake and aggravating his condition.

He is on 'caca-watch' as we keep a close eye on his caca-tendencies in an attempt to alleviate the problem before it becomes chronic.

Potty torture

JE SUIS DANS LA VRAIE MERDE !!!

Literally speaking. Let me elaborate further.




I am sort of regretting my early insistence on toilet training Baby Taz. Everytime he is about to or has already soiled his nappy with stinky poo he will undo the velcro attachments on either side of his nappy, pull said soiled nappy down and proceed to eeeeeek step on the poo or sit on it and immediately thereafter run havoc all over the place thereby spreading poo and rendering the floor wrenched with a stench and impressioning his faeces laced footprints...making it easy to trace a path of where he has been.

The odour and mess is just astounding. He has done this a few times and Shrek and I are really horrified by it. He is a lil terror and more...indescribably full of hyper energy that he burns off by getting into mischief and vexatious behaviour. He has the potential to be a prankster.

Breakable

Melanine ware dropped from a height of more than one metres will shatter and break into a thousand pieces. I made this astounding discovery thanks to Baby Taz who has broken one melanine presentation plate and an IKEA coffee mug (which has been the recipient of thousand upon thousand of coffee refills.)