Sand world..

I was impressed, it was his first encounter with the stones as well as dry sand at home..



His 1st sand world

My best trip ever.. to the shop..

I'm not sure if you experienced this before.

Bringing your child out, but it turns out almost like a disaster as he steers a completely opposite direction of where you were heading, adrenaline rush, you had sweaty palm and head thinking how to tame the little monster.. how to pull the little monster back to your path that seems endless, not to touch this or that lest they break and you have to pay, not to stop every 5mm he moves to look around coz you are rushing for time..

That's how I felt when I brought mine out, alone.. most of the times, especially since I stopped using stroller.

So, it was a gamble last night, asking if he would like to company me to the shop nearby to buy things.

He said yes of course.

So down we went.

To my surprise, it was my most pleasant trip with him ever.

Not only did he not pull away from me when I held his hand. He walked along me, just like a grown up. We stopped only for a brief minute to look at the snail crawling. And we talked, like grown ups.

In the shop, he went to the aisle I instructed, and he stayed close to me, not running everywhere.

When I took the cans of longan I wanted to buy, he offered to help me to put into the basket. I was so happy. Then he saw a tin of biscuits and told me "it is very nice", and asked me to buy. I took the tin and passed to him, and he carried it to the cashier.

I was more than impressed of his actions.

My hands were full, so I couldn't hold his hand, but he stayed close. He even held on to one of the plastic bags and said "let me help you".

Gosh, it was my best trip ever. My son has grown up!

IZ colours..

To be honest, only our helper could make him do this.. only she could make him stay still and work on something.**

Note: the yellow flower on the 2nd row was coloured by our helper.

The rest were coloured by IZ. I think at 29 months old, they are good!

** only lately he could stay still when I read to him..

Lower Seletar Reservoir: 19th May'13

I didn't do much homework for this week's excursion, but I thought of going to Changi Broadway Walk as suggested by a friend. But then, we woke up quite late, close to 9am, so I suggested impromptu trip to Lower Seletar Reservoir.

Walking into the reservoir - so nice!

Beautiful view

Beautiful view

Breathtaking?

And so I didn't know there was a waterplay.. I didn't bring extra clothings, the poor boy kept asking to play water.. next week maybe?

Leading to the amphitheatre

History

Such cooling place, no joke!

I wonder what they do with this stage

He ran around it

Wonderful place to see MRT

Kayaking and mini dragon boat

Golf course

And solar panel!

Labrador Nature Reserve: 12th May'13

Since I fell ill 2 weeks ago, I contemplated to re-start our nature walk regime again.

And so I thought we start off with Labrador. Apparently Labrador played a significant role in the history of Singapore during World War II. Remaining of these war relics could be seen around.

Just next to the car park - it's very convenient

Wasn't this a beautiful day?

Breezy windy concrete walkway, overseeing the ships, cruises



Rocky sea cliff



Beautiful view

Fine sand at the playground

"rock climbing" for him

A-maze-ing race

I'm not sure what this is called

In search of Tunnel

Climbing the endless stairs..

One of the many shelters

6inch gun emplacement

Looks real isn't it?

Underground storeroom

The infamous wall

IZ says.. @ 29 months

****

Grabbed my phone early morning..

Issac: mommy I want to call gong gong

Me: gong gong is still sleeping

Issac: (frowned) are you sure??

Me: huh!

****

Blowing bubbles into his milk..

Me: issac, please don't play with food

Issac: no, don't play with drinks

****

Wanting iPad time..

Issac: daddy, iPad for 1 hour, OK?

Daddy: no, 5 mins

Issac: half an hour, OK?

****

He kept saying Spider as Spiderman.. so daddy searched for Spiderman and showed him.

IZ: Spiderman is so ugly

****

Taught him not to interrupt when adults are talking.

So one day, while he was talking to me, and helper intruded.

IZ: Ah Nah, don't talk to me, I'm talking to Mommy.

****

Showing him how many legs a spider has..

Me: 1
IZ: 1
Me: 2
IZ: 2
....
Me: 8
IZ: 8

Me: So, how many legs does a spider has?
IZ: Many many!

****

Enrichment... or not..?

If you do follow our lernen-reise, you might have noticed that I've not talked about enrichment classes for some time. To be exact, since we stopped Abrakadoodle class in Nov last year. Wooo.. that's a whopping 6 months without enrichment for IZ! (Deep inside, wow, I've enjoyed freedom for half a year!)

Hubby and I made a mutual agreement to bring IZ to weekly excursions if we do not send him for enrichments. We believe field trips, excursions in the nature, or simply weekly outing would do better than any enrichment classes. And so randomly we've been to farm, beach, market, airport, Hort Park, Tickle Tickle playground, Art Science Museum, KL trips, playdates, swimdates, yumcha and the list may go on..

I do feel the joy of spending time with him over weekends, even if it meant staying home to do some art stuffs, or play blocks or playdoh. More often than not, both of us could not stay home for more than 48 hours... so we need to get out, more OFTEN than NOT.

So am I going to stop IZ from going to enrichment?

This has been a conflict within myself for the longest time. 6 months it is..

I've been constantly looking for suitable art class for him who has barely turned 2. No art school is willing to take him although I told them he could "draw" decently. His humpty dumpty has face features, arms and legs, hat, flowers, and sitting on the wall. He could draw house with someone in it, he could draw grandfather's clock upside down!

But still.. no school is willing to take him coz he is too young. They take in children from 3.5 the youngest. Oh well, there are schools like Abrakadoodle that takes in younger kids, but I know that's not what I want for IZ. I couldn't even find a personal art teacher. I saw some bigger kids who could paint really well, I am eyeing their art school, if by then IZ is still interested in art.. that is.

Meanwhile, I'm also struggling with Chinese. From the moment I was pregnant, I knew my kid's Chinese proficiency wouldn't make it. I'm not Chinese literated. I can speak but I can't read nor write Chinese. But he has to take it as Mother Tongue! Gosh! So, do I send him to Chinese enrichment? I find the "WANT" getting stronger by the day when he couldn't pronounce anything accurately. I called Tien Hsia and found they are really near us and we could join the trial anytime we want, but I don't know if I want to send him to classes again. He goes to Kinderland everyday for 3 hours, I can't tell if it's sufficient, but for now, he did show tremendous accomplishments to my pleasant surprise.

And then there's music, swimming or sports to consider... wow... the kiasuness in me is building up.

Thinking about it makes me tired, so I'll just shelf the thoughts for now.. till I know what's best for him.

PS: Just read about a young boy who started speaking only at 3 years old but he could share knowledge in university lectures at 9... no such thing as too late I guess.

IZ writes..

29 months

I do not really believe in making him write as such young age (especially not when he can't hold the pencil in the "correct" way - it's going to be a long debate if you disagree that there is a "correct" way.. to me, the "correct" way, would be the most efficient way to write ALOT and FAST). So, I do not teach him at home, on how to write. I provide resources mainly from art & craft and also the lessons, but they do not stress on writing. But he can write most of the letters now, in capital.

All thanks to Leap Frog and my helper I guess. If you are wondering, Leap Frog (Letter Factory) is a good "investment". The Prof in the show writes out every letter, how do they sound as well as item that starts with the letter. IZ learnt alot from him and helper who is always challenging him, bringing him to greater heights from "academically".

As he progressed, at times, when he watch Letter Factory, IZ would bring his drawing board and imitates how to write the letters. I guess that's where / how IZ learnt how to write.

I noticed IZ is a visual person, he knows how the letters look like and he would make the strokes although not in the correct sequence, such that the letter resemble something he visualised.

He's not that smart to be able to write this purposely at 29 months. Read, he won't be able to write if you say write "Daddy, I love you".

I prompted him the letters one by one and he wrote himself. I added the heart as he doesn't know now that LOVE could be represented by a heart. I guess he would have his years writing lovey mushy notes to (potential) girlfriends to come.

Prompting at 29 months

28 months

He will not entertain us every time we prompt him, but one day in Apr, he did humour us a little. So I did some prompting:

H

O and P

Q

T

I.. instead of writing it itself, he chose to add a line below from a random T

E with extra stroke

Mirror image of G

MMMM..... M!

Mirror image of C

"Do you want Daddy to punish you?"

Hubby has some problem controlling IZ when he misbehaves, and so at times, he punish him physically, either pull his ears, or cause him pain on his face etc.

IZ is scared of the daddy's punishment.

And so, I use his weak point to control him.

Whenever he misbehaves, I would say "do you want daddy to punish you?"

He would clasp his hands and cover his ears and face and says "I DON'T WANT!"

It works, all most of the times!

This morning, IZ dillied-dallied (as usual) before we left home for school and work. He just like to "perform" some good shows, singing, jumping, running about before he finally settles down to wear his shoes let us put on his shoes, and that means FOREVER.

So, I used my weapon "do you want daddy to punish you?"

To my surprise, he didn't say "I DON'T WANT!" instead he asked "WHY?"

While it was really funny when it happened, it was a reminder to myself that he has grown-up. I have to be responsible for my actions and my words, as he is fully capable of questioning already.

Art Therapy for the Recuperating Souls

IZ and I were sick the past week. Virus in our household circulating, the whole household is down except my MIL.

Today, IZ went to school after a week's break. He was very happy excited.

I'm still on MC today, fever is gone (I hope it would not come back).. Though I wish I did not have to go back to work, staying at home while day is proven again, not my cup of tea.

I STILL PREFER COFFEE, ANYTIME!