Jeremy's Gems

Do you remember the Bill Cosby Show 'Kids Say the Darndest Things' ? Well, I would also say they do the darndest things and more. When my niece and nephews were younger they would always do and say things that would capture my imagination. Kids nowadays are a lot smarter than I used to be, that's for sure. (My 2 year old niece Ashley Flora [right] is a real fire cracker).

Read on and you'll see just what I mean.

When I was on a family holiday at a beach resort in Thailand  I spotted some bikini-clad babes basking in the sun (Well, obviously, it was a beach resort, right?). I observed from a distance. When Jeremy asked me what I was looking at, I pointed toward the beach beauties. With a shrug and a disapproving sigh, Jeremy said, "Yeah, they're pretty but when I'm a man, they'll be grandmas!"  He was only three years old at the time, believe it or not.

Aware of my family's perpetual quest to find a nice gal for me, he took it upon himself to play matchmaker on the flight home. With a glint in his eye and a cheeky grin, he attracted the attention of a flight attendant and asked,  "Do you have a boyfriend?"  My siblings chuckled uncontrollably knowing perfectly well where the direction of the conversation was headed. I slinked down in my seat and buried my face  in the in-flight sales magazine, hoping that this would blow over.

The aforementioned flight attendant was spoken for, but she invited him to the galley, and when he emerged beaming, his arms were overflowing with stuffed toys, coloring books and crayons. As he took his seat, he proudly declared: "She loves me!" Believe me, Jeremy's done a lot more classic things but I'm saving those stories for now.

So do your kids say or do the darndest things?

Poopsies

When I was just a baby my big brother lent me his one and only  teddy bear. In a show of gratitude, or maybe I was just being territorial, I promptly pooped all over it. That incident scarred my brother as it did his beloved teddy. And he has never let me forget about it!

Which brings me to today's topic -  poopsies. How many parents out there are having a hard time training their kids to go poopsies by themselves. I'm asking because my cousin Gaby  is in the midst of training her youngest to go potty by himself.  Is it harder to train a girl or a boy to go potty by themselves?

Are boys more possessive of their poopsies? I know that my nephews, one in particular, enjoyed giving me  blow-by-blow accounts of their poopsie movements. Maybe it's harder to train boys because they enjoy sharing the experience. I don't know. What do you think?

So please let me know what are your preferred methods of  potty training. What works, what doesn't? Is there a need for books about potty training? Talk to you soon. D

'I WANT A PET!'

When you were a kid, did you ever ask your parents for a pet? Did they grant your wish or did they shoot you down continuously? My parents did the latter. Well, I guess I sort of had a pet - kind of. We had a daschund, but she was a year older than me. And technically she wasn't MY pet, she was my sister's.

It was when I was about  18 months old that my parents discovered that I wasn't very good with animals. Apparently I was in the midst of shoving a cookie into my face when most of it fell on the floor. My philosophy has always been never let a good cookie go to waste, so I scrambled out of my high chair to pick it up, only to see Waggley, our  daschund, gobble it up.

You know what they say about taking candy, or in this case a cookie, from babies? Well, THIS baby was having none of it. Before Mom could stop me, I yanked Waggley's mouth open and attempted to retrive MY cookie. When that didn't work, I decided to get even. I grabbed Waggley's tail and clamped down on it with my teeth! Apparently I was spitting reddish-brown dog fur out of my mouth for the next couple of minutes. So you can see why my parents kept on refusing my pet requests. I was a potential Michael Vick in the making.

My upcoming book 'TSOMF" is based on my childhood quest for a pet.  And here's a sneak peak of  my main character Jeremy Alexander. I think my illustrator YT Chieu is a phenomenal artist and has captured the essence of the story incredibly well. I'm totally psyched about this story and I hope you will like it too.