A Trip to the Farmart

Took the kids to the Farmart this morning. Good weather except no wind. The kids enjoyed the most while feeding the mountain goats! I'm very amazed that both of them went very close to feed the mountain goats without any fear. And they also had a close encounter feeding the rabbits, hamsters, tortoises, frogs & fishes. I'm glad I brought them there to remind them about God's beautiful creation.

Red + Yellow = ?

While Jamie is having her nap, I quickly get Jeremy to touch base with some paint before he goes for his nap too. This is his 2nd time trying out and he is not as frighten as compared to the first time.

Busy with my hands

I have planned to bring kids out to the library but it didn't happen as Jeremy slept for a straight 3hrs nap till 1230pm! By then, Jamie already yawning away. So , we did some art & craft instead.

Dip in Pool

Jamie has been pestering me to bring her for a swim since months back. So, here we are at the Country Club in the evening just walking distance behind our house. Both kids are so happy playing with the water.

Jamie's 1st Children Bible

I have been searching for that "perfect" book for her since long time ago. Bought some but it's either too wordy to test her patience for papa/mama to finish reading or the pictures are not lively enough to capture her attention.

BUT, this morning, while in church, I finally found just the right for her!! Hurray!

Bruise

See the bruise below his left eye? According to Elih, he used his toy car and hit himself when he knew that he's going out. Too excited ?

(9/3//07)

Hanging Mobile

Jamie did this while I was away yesterday morning for the phonics workshop . I purposely instructed her what to do with the stars that I drew on the party paper plates and left. She drew a seashell on the paper plate & gave it rainbow colors. Next, for the 3 stars, she colored, pasted stickers, painted and managed to cut out 2 out of 3 stars neatly all by herself! And she used those children's size plastic scissors and the paper plates are much thicker than the usual 80gsm paper. To me, she has done a very good job afterall she's only a 3.5yr old kid. I am so proud of you, Jamie!

Yummy !

Kids are getting better so I decided to give them some ice cream after dinner. Look at Jeremy's reaction! It's his 1st experience eating ice-cream!

Time for Workshops

While Jamie has just started learning phonics in JCK and Zoo Phonics, I also have enrolled myself into some workshops relating to Phonemic Awareness & Phonics as well as I believe in working hand in hand with her school teachers in order to accomplish optimal results. And so I will be busy on almost all Saturdays morning since February and this month. Here are the workshops (except Jolly Phonics)

Backside Itchy

Met an ex-colleague today and she mentioned that they have vacancy opening. Haiz I know I am not called/ready to go back to the workforce yet but.... sigh...

Reward Stamp Chops

Bought few more cheap stamp chops to add up to my existing chops. So far, these have some kind of impact in motivating Jamie to finish up her work neat & fast. :D

Nursery Term One 2007

Morning went to see Jamie's teachers for her term one review. We spoke alot but generally, feedback about her are as follow. She used to do these at home more than a year ago. So , I think its easy that's why she don't need teacher's assistance. 1) Restless 2) Mature 3) Independent & does school work without supervision needed 4) Quiet 5) Speaks only when necessary

大家讲hua* 语

Ever since Jamie goes to school, she also begin to speak more Mandarin. I used to be very concerned over her not wanting to speak in Mandarin but now I am relieved and will not enrol her into 天下at the moment unless her Mandarin doesn't improve. *hahaa I couldn't find this word but you know what it is right?

I Can Speak

Jeremy has started to speak Mandarin bit by bit. I am so happy! These are what I heard from him so far. 火, 给我, 花, 人, 月亮, 汤....

Anatomy Jumbo Book

Bought this jumbo book for Jamie. What I like about this are the fun gadgets like movable and flip up tabs and the super huge human skeletal system at the end of the book! So this book reinforce what she has already being taught at home.

Hurray!

Thank God Jamie no longer vomits or has any more loose stool after yesterday afternoon. So I started to give her slightly more to eat. She had 1 slice of banana bread w glucose water for breakfast, vermicillin in bland soup for lunch. And 1/2 bottle of slightly diluted Pediasure before she naps.

Viral Gastroenteritis

Jamie vomitted after her milk feed early in the morning. Brought her to see a GP and while waiting, she vomitted again. Confirmed its stomach flu. Gotta standby some oral rehydration solution to prevent her from dehydration. Meanwhile the 2 kids are being quarantine from each other. And Jeremy is also having some coughing. Arrrgghhhh!!!!

MC

I am down with common flu. So decided to let Jamie plays at ah po's house instead of doing some homework. Come back tomorrow for updates pls.....

Fresh Flower

Brought Jeremy to Far East Flora along Thomason Road after a survey that earned me extra 40 bucks. Nice, cheap and fresh flowers !!

I am 15 Months Old

Placement

I am very impressed with Jamie. Not the messy handwriting. See how straight she wrote all the words on the line without any helping hands or starting point.

Fines

All overdue fines from the NLB. :(

Doodle Time

This is what Jamie drew on the doodle board. Can see the 2 clouds, a sun, few flying birds, 2 balloons, 1 child, a house and some grasses?

Enjoy!

Montessori Pink Scheme for Phonics

This is a very good set to start off with and Jamie.

Step 2 Snuggle Bug

Finally got it for the kids!!!! *cheaper than what I have expected!*

Meet the Teacher's Session

Yippee!!! Finally its time for us to meet Jamie's teacher!! Why so excited? If you have a kid who doesn't tell you what she does in school every day, then this session will be a good time to get to know from her teacher!

Morning Stroll

Today's weather is good so I decided to bring the kids to the Lakeside Park. We had a nice long walk there and spent some time playing at the sand playground and walked around the park. Cool!

Fun Painting

Jeremy has his 1st painting experience tonight. Initially he was curious and hands were so busy mixing wif the paint. Then suddenly, he cried and screamed! Guessed he wasn't too happy about the messed he did and the colors that stucked onto his hands.

First 2 Days ....

This is our 1st artwork done during Jamie's 1st two days in school. Parents were allowed to accompany their child throughout the day for the first 2 days. See Jamie's effort to write her own name? None of her classmates was able to do it. I am very proud of her!!

Ouch!

The moment Jeremy saw the clinic assistant and the pd, he started to wail very loud such that that the pd apologised to him after the pneumoccocal jab, wahahaaha!!

Rewards System

Got this Mighty Saver reward card & stickers from OCBC Bank free for Jamie! Suppose to caltivate good saving habits for young children. But I use this to reward her every time she doesn't fuse over washing hair. Did once just now and it worked!! Just hope that she will remember that she needs 20 stickers to get a mystery present ! :D

Seashells

These are the seashells that Jamie picked up from East Coast beach. We washed and dried it. This is what she did. She said it's a face with small eyes n a mouth.

The Run

Don't ask me why she was holding the CNY box. whahaahaha!

Ear Candling

Have you ever wonder why sometimes you can't hear clearly? See what's these inside my ears for YEARS!!! yucks!!!

Exercise Books

jamie drew a ball, balloon & sun herself and briefly told me a story of it. (I wrote it down) Learning phonics at home . Filled in the missing blanks & finally spelt "cat, fat" herself. Jamie formed a triange (left) using cut out strips. Learning to write her own name with the help of starting points. Above are what I've started teaching Jamie using those conventional exercise books that we used during our school days.

One Piece Knobbed Puzzle

Started Jeremy on this puzzle. Need a lot of patience just to make him sit down to do this.

Those Little Surprises

Here's are those little surprises, one after another. Thanks CQ for everything!

A Special Date

** I was invited !!! :p

A,E,I, O, U

Recently, I have enrolled Jamie into Zoo Phonics for a 2 hourly once a week programme hoping that she will develop phonemic awareness which is an essentiial step in learning to read on her own. She will also be acquiring letter-writing pemanship skills to prepare her for sentence writing at the next level.

As she is moving into sounding out all the letters of the alphabets, I am more conscious of my pronounciation with all the beginning , middle and ending sounds of words, blending and word families etc. Who says we can't learn with our kids??

My Breastfeeding Journey with Jeremy

Wanted to blog this little achievement of mine long time ago. I totally weaned Jamie off when she was around 7.5months old and for Jeremy, its 14mths !! In fact, he self weaned so it was a breeze for both of us. Looking back, I have no regrets of all the obstacles and late nights pumping and to breastfeed him. Afterall, seeing how strong and smart he is, I would still say, berastmilk is the best !!

Fisher Price Learn Through Music Interactive Learning System

Got this from a supplier (the toy has been retired from the market for quite some time) and the children love it very much!! Especially this Jeremy who keeps pressing the arrow button, watching the images move from page to page!! Good investment!

Proud Son

So glad that Jeremy is beginning to verbalise words (some are 3 letters words) alot more these days. Basically he picks up new skills and language pretty fast. This morning I just taught him to sign "more" if he wants to eat more. And surprisingly, he did it so many times when he wanted bread from me!! Soon when he is ready, I will start him off on some Montessori materials that I did with Jamie when she was about 2yrs old.

Happy Lunar New Year

Gong Xi, Gong Xi, Xin Nian Hao!! This is what Jamie will say instead of the usual way of Gong Xi Fa Cai. She says this is what her teacher has taught her in school. Mmm, afterall, going to school isn't that bad huh??

Laminator

Finally got a cheap home used laminator from Levine!! Yea thks pal! With this laminator, I will be busy laminating alot of the Montessori materials as well as some old photographs that I do not have the softcopy.