This is so strange......
Even though I know babies n young kids change their habits all the time, but it seems little Kang decided to schedule them all right after his birthday celebration (later than his actual birthday).
He used to be less fussy about missing naps or irregular nap times (something which was an absolute no-no for his sister since Day 1). Right on the day we held his party, he decided to "flex his muscles" and showed what he was actually capable of. He woke up in the middle of the night (which is still pretty common even after we started to introduce partial formula feeding in the night, another strange habit I presumed should have stopped if I weaned him off night-feeds) and wailed inconsolably, even refusing his favourite Daddy's attempts to carry him, waking his granddad from his sleep, again rejecting his offer to carry him and clung on to Mummy (which was definitely not his favourite character before that, only choosing me when he wanted his nene). He pushed and struggled and screamed non-stop and it took him really quite sometime before calming down. I contributed the episode to a mixture of over-tiredness, over-stimulation n a bad tummy due to all the forbidden stuff fed to him by doting uncles (hmmm, u know who u r right ;p). The following few days were difficult, when he refused his food n bottle etc... However, yesterday, during our weekly visit to my ILs, they decided to bring him for a walk during his nap time. I thought since we would be there for less than 3 hrs, I'd just keep quiet n let him catch his nap in the car. It was an absolutely BAD decision. He started grouching when we got into the car and all hell broke lose while we were approaching home. It didn't help when I removed him from his car seat, as he continued to struggle and nearly strangled me with his pushing. I had to hang on to him fervently, for fear that I dropped him while holding my umbrella in the other hand, making sure both kids were sheltered from the rain, as I make my way from the carpark to the lobby. He fell asleep soon after being dropped in his sarong - a sign of extreme tiredness. But that wasn't the end of my woes. He started grouching and wailing again after waking from his nap and refused dinner and was partially consoled when offered my breast. It didn't last. In the end, I had to bring him down for a walk before he finally settled down - a whole 2 hrs saga. At around 1+am, he woke up and duplicated the episode we had on the night of his birthday celebration!!! And finally went back to sleep ard 3am. That left me sleepless for the entire night......
Another incomprehensible act is that, he had decided to boycott the bottle after being introduced to partial formula since 2 months back. The frequency of him refusing to drink his formula has been increasing these few days and he had not taken anything from the bottle for the past 3 feeds, shaking his head whenever being offered one, and getting upset if we repeated our attempts. Suddenly, he decided he wanted to pick up signing "nene" (after simply ignoring all attempts to get him to do so for months. This boy picks on what he wants to learn n shakes his head or ignores u when u're trying to teach him something he's not interested in) and it is only to be used exclusively for Mummy's milk (he did that just now after his swimming session, when it was time for his afternoon feed).
Now, he understands quite a fair bit of what we r talking about. For e.g. when we say beat beat, he'll hit himself on his bum with his hands, when we ask him to drink water and praise him, he'll take his bottle and sip it. Of cos there are more instances.
The Mummy whom wasn't one of his first few choices when it came to playmates, all of a sudden seems to become his close pal. I believe it's probably due to the fact that he is starting to display separation anxiety. Could this be the reason he is refusing his bottles?? Maybe...... I guess my plan to slowly wean him may have to be sidelined for the time being......
Whatever the case, with the changes coming along, I have no choice but to play the bad guy again. It beats tiring myself to death and stretching my boy beyond his tolerance. Afterall, we r the ones to suffer while others simply remain blind to all that happen beyond their scope of view. Sometimes I really feel the strain of having to ferry my younglings all the way down n up every week on my own. Each way is >30mins drive n I know very well the way home will be a torture on most days. Perhaps when something bad happens along one of these trips, then will somebody be "enlightened" and show us some empathy......
