Stranger Anxiety To The Max

Being looked after by my mother in a house that is pretty much quiet with no other kids, made Raees somewhat allergic to crowd / loudness (shopping malls are an exception). Over the last few months, it just got worse.

He would cry his heart out as soon as we step into a crowded place. Usually people's houses for kenduri, parties and such. There have been a couple of times we couldn't mingle much and had to leave early because my boy was so cranky.

Recently we visited a family friend at the hospital. We were informed that there were many people there so we were prepared for the inevitable. We let Raees play at the corridor, while I went in to the room to greet people. He was happy as always with the amount of space he could explore.

Soon I invited him into the room. He stopped at the door and refused to budge. I held out my hand to him and he did the same. Since I didn't move, he came a few steps closer to reach out for my hand.

Although he was tricked, I managed to make him come into the room by himself.

One look at the people there...

The waterworks started...

When I put him down, he would grab my hand and attempt to pull me out of the room. Very anti-social!

So I thought this cannot go on. I have to do something to safe our social life. I decided to organize a playdate. I invited Thara over to my place with her very sporting, cool, calm and composed Aydein.

Raees was breastfeeding when they came over. Thara came close to greet him and, without letting me go, he started crying! A very tragic cry in fact. Aydein on the other hand had the what's-happening? look.

After a (long) while, Raees calmed down as Thara simply ignored him. The 2 boys started playing with the toys. Before you know it, Raees was slowly approaching Thara and took her iPhone off her hand! Amazing!

2 weeks later, I was ready for Raees' cries during Mer's sister's engagement. I even went into the house, walked pass relatives that were there early, told them not to acknowledge him and went straight to the back of the house.

To my surprise, he didn't cry! He made the unhappy face initially but no cry! He was very confident around people and daringly insisted on going to his favourite spot to play his toys where the crowd were seated.

Super cool boy! And just after 1 playdate. Awesome!

Thank God Raees didn't spoil the beautiful ceremony, Nor! Uh, and congrats on your engagement!

A relative from Kelantan was around for the engagement ceremony so the next day we decided to hang out with her a cousin's house. The house was full of people, kids and adults alike!

And again, Raees proved to be as calm as he could be. He loved seeing kids running and jumping around. He didn't do it himself though (not yet).

That day was the first time he came across this fruit from Kelantan called buah salak. The inside of the fruit is white in colour. When someone peeled the fruit and left half of it in the basket, Raees threw it away. I think it seemed like it didn't belong there. Yes, my boy like to sort now!

While he was playing, we gave him a buah salak. He took it and walked over to the basket and put it together with the other fruits. He knew where it belonged! I think my mom taught him well about cleanliness :)

Although most of the time he plays by himself, here he seemed to be showing off to the girl...

"Look I can bounce a ball with one hand. See!"

But the ultimate sign that my boy somewhat 'cured' his stranger anxiety was when he voluntarily hugged Mer's aunt! At first we thought he got the wrong person. Then he looked up, smiled at her and continued to hug a little longer. This was the first time they met!

The next day we went to my uncle's place and this time he was slightly cranky because he was forced to wake up as we got out of the car.

We were there to visit my new nephew (Raees' future gang). You may not see it from these pictures but there were quite a number of people there.

Raees wasn't cranky for long though. He started being friendly with my niece...

Even climbed on the table to play and do a little dance.

3 events, 3 days in a row and not even 1 scene. I guess the rest is history! I can finally bring him around in peace! Hooray!!