Hong Kong Holiday

So we survived! One thing for sure, we won't be traveling on a plane until we are sure Reese is ready! Ok, let me tell you what we did and our experience in our first family trip overseas.

Saturday 20th September

We left Reese at my parents place for a couple of hours to do some last minute shopping before the trip. We bought some toys to entertain Reese on the plane. Got him a helicopter and a car.

We have a quiet evening and boy, we were so excited that both hubby and I couldn't sleep. At the end, I think we both slept for less than 3 hours each! hehe...

Sunday 21st September

Hubby got diarrhea. Took some medication and couldn't sleep after that. So by about 2+ am we were both awake and did more last minute packing. At about 4.15am I carried Reese and took him to the car, he was fully awake! So we had a slow ride to the LCC Terminal. Reese was happy and hubby and I were happy too. When we reached the airport, we changed Reese's diaper and clothes. Next went to check-in our luggage and hang around the airport. At first Reese was excited looking at planes and all then he became restless, whiny... I guess he was sleepy..gave him some honeystars...but didn't help much...started to cry... then after much struggling with him, he felt asleep on my shoulder for a while. Then it's time to board the plane.... he was excited..but as we approach the plane... he started to whine and protest...wanted to get away... on the plane... started to cry and struggle...didn't stop until the plane is high up in the sky and when we were allowed to turn on the PSP for him to watch his cartoon! Phew..that was probably a good 20 minutes or so!!! He was still having runny nose so you can imagine the mess from all the crying...thick mucus all over his face...gave him chocolate also didn't work... messy messy messy... the rest of the flight was ok. He watched his cartoon, ate some snacks, played a little and felt a sleep (30 minutes) and as the plane started to descend... he started crying again..this time.. he said "ear pain pain"... again.. cried all the way till we walk out of the plane!! Phew...we were just glad that we got thru. :)

Next, took the airport express to Tsing Yi MTR station and then another train to our hotel. That went smoothly..Reese enjoyed the train ride. Check in to the hotel(5 stars), it was a great hotel... good service, large room (HK standard) with two queen beds at only HKD560 per night. I made the booking through Asiatravel.com. Our room faces the waterfront/harbour and a park. We opt to stay away from tourist places partly because it's cheaper and also we got to see how Hong Kong people live daily.. opposite our hotel was a public market and across the street was a new shopping mall. It's a great place to stay.

Took a short walk around the neighbourhood. Bought KFC for Reese and congee and wantan mee for ourselves for lunch. Surprise surprise...Reese likes the congee (porridge)!!! He even ate wantan mee... He didn't like HK KFC... It's actually worse than Singapore KFC....heheh...

After some rest, we went to Yung Kee to have the famous roast goose and century eggs. Yummy but very pricey. We had roast goose(1 quarter) and century eggs and seafood noodles. Guess how much? It's about Rm150!

Next, we walk around a little and tried to find out way to the Avenue of Stars to watch the Light show... along the way... when we stopped for a drink at MacD, we lost our google map! We got lost and missed the show....so we headed back to the hotel. Day one accomplished as planned except the light show.

Monday 22nd September

Woke up early and we went to the next famous eating place. This time we tried congee at Sang Kee. Took us sometime to find it. It was a really small shop. Reese felt asleep and while daddy carried Reese I ate my fish congee. Daddy had a mixture of pork, liver, intestine congee. He likes his but as for mine, it's ok... I can find better fish congee here. Hehe....

After our breakfast, we went to Disneyland. Reese likes the Mickey mouse train.... on the same train were some Chinese tourist, gosh... they were so loud and the moment the train stopped, these people literally ran to the Mickey mouse train!!! So silly...not that there were alot of people.... Didn't want to discriminate...but somehow, alot of mainland Chinese are just rude, loud and lacks civic consciousness. My experience in China was terrible the last time. Anyway...

Hubby and I were very disappointed with Hong Kong Disneyland. It's very small, not many attractions, lacks the 'magic', very few characters and lousy parade. We were in Orlando Disneyworld a couple of years back. So naturally what we experienced in Hong Kong was a far cry from Disneyworld. :)

A warning, never go to HK Disneyland during summer!! It was sooooooo hot....very very uncomfortable... Reese enjoyed meeting his favourite Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and Snow White. He just cannot stop smiling and calling their names when they greeted him! Whatever we went through so far...it's all worth it when we saw him smiling from ear to ear.... Reese had two naps while in Disneyland... We had a hard time carrying him around too... I mean.. he is not light... about 15kgs! Food is expensive and crappy..but that was expected... We drank alot of water...bottle after bottle.... Reese had two bottles of water and a bottle of juice... That's a lot for a little boy! We went to Small World, Reese as usual was scared and reluctant initially but then...later on...he asked to go back for another ride! He got to see his favourite hot air balloon, giant butterfly and many more. I must say...this Small World is better than the one in Orlando..mainly because this is brand new.

Reese had some fun at the fountain area where children can play with water. Then we saw the parade, and this old lady from China... just went in front of us and shove her butt in our face! She was trying to take pictures.... gosh.... she's got a big butt.... One of the staff had to shoo her away.... it's kinda funny... hehe

Did some shopping, got two t-shirts for myself and a Mickey Mouse for Reese. By evening... I suddenly felt unwell, headache and all. It's definitely the heat. So had some food and then went back to the hotel, I couldn't wait for the fireworks. Sorry Reese.

Later in the night, hubby went to buy Mos burgers for us for supper... yummy.

Tuesday 23rd September

Woke up early and took Reese to the park and after that we had breakfast at the same shop we bought lunch the first day. I had chicken congee with century egg... yummy...hubby had wantan mee again. Reese enjoyed the congee...had half a bowl and a little bit of wantan mee.

Went back to the hotel and babysit Reese while hubby went to Fortress Hill to get his premium Zoids... after two hours, he came back with 3 big boxes of Zoids!! He was obviously happy.... he actually saved about Rm150 by buying them from Hong Kong. After that we went to SOGO... again..was disappointed, didn't get any clothing for Reese because all the clothing is meant for colder weather. Most t-shirts are long sleeves... hai... then went to look for Legos...again..it's not really cheap...so didn't buy any. Next wanted to head to Tung Chung to the factory outlets..but it's kinda far and still very tired from the day before...so went back to the hotel. Then it started to rain as we walk back to the hotel...hubby had to carry a 15kg toddler and ran all the way to the hotel...that is a good 3 minutes walk..haha... the rain did not stopped and around 5pm... I decided to get us some dinner since we can't go anywhere... took my faithful umbrella from college days... yeah..it's probably close to 12 years old. :)

As I was buying dinner, I over heard that the Tropical Storm Signal No. 8 warning was out. No wonder earlier in the day I saw people taping their glass windows with masking tapes...I was wondering..what's going on...renovation? hehehe... So after that... we just stayed in... and watch from our hotel room...super strong wind, flying objects, rain and people struggling to get home... hubby even went down to film and took pictures. Wind was really strong, and we constantly hear howling of the wind... Reese slept well all three nights... he had a whole bed to himself with four long pillows surrounding him.

Wednesday 24th September

Check with the airport to make sure that our plane was not effected by the storm, took a taxi from the hotel to the airport. Did some shopping at the airport and bought Reese a t-shirt and khakis from Kingcow...cute clothes.... Later we had to dash to the departure gates..cause it was our first time at Terminal Two (new)....gosh..we panicked... We ran all the way to the departure gate and just made it...but later found out that the plane was late...hai... Reese felt asleep before we boarded the plane..which was a relieve... then he woke up as the plane started to take off... as usual..whine...cry.... untill we were allowed to turn on the PSP.... this time... the plane ride was not so pleasant... harder to control Reese, hubby had ear pressure problem and then headache... and towards landing... Reese really cried and struggle all the way to immigration... he was pulling my hair and when I let him down..gosh..he jumped and stamped like a crazy horse...no kidding..screaming and crying...everyone was staring at him...and even in the plane.. you can see the very unhappy looks of other passengers...hehehe... hubby was really angry with Reese...but later over dinner at home... we had a good laugh over his tantrum display at the immigration...

It was a good holiday filled with great memories and bad experiences. Definitely no plane rides till Reese is 100% ready. We can forget about going to Australia next year...hahha...

Some tips for parents:

1. Don't go to Disneyland during summer.

2.If you have to bring the stroller, be ready to carry it up and down long flights of steps... We were glad that we didn't bring ours.... it's definitely not stroller friendly and everywhere is always crowed.

3. Bring enough milk powder! Bring extra.... We didn't have enough milk for Reese on the plane home... He was really unhappy....

4. Bring alot of snacks for the kid....

5. If you are traveling budget airline like us, a PSP really helps...or even a laptop.... 4 hours ride it's quite long.

6. Build up your stamina and be ready to carry the baby/toddler alot. Glad we did that 2 months in advance...

Some photos of our trip.....

Playing with his new toy in the plane to HK

Looking around

On the Airport Express

Night view from our hotel room

This is our hotel (L' Hotel Hong Kong)

First taste of HK food upon arrival

The harbour/waterfront view from our hotel Room

Daddy carrying Reese walking towards our MTR station

The famous Yung Kee Restaurant

Waiting for the MTR

Famous Sang Kee (Congee)

The ladies preparing the congee

Our congee and milk tea

Reese sleeping in the congee shop...

Tropical Storm Signal No. 8

Reese enjoying his congee for breakfast

Yummy

Admiring the balloons

This two jeh jeh really likes him...

See how happy Reese was?

It's worth all the trouble....

When you see him smile and laugh...

Snow White and us

Waiting for the parade to start

So hot and tired...

More balloons...

More laughing

Ah...family photo with Donald

Daddy and Reese at Small World

Reese napping

Reese favourite...

Water fun!

The so called castle...

So tired...and sweaty...

Look at us... half dead

Mickey and us..

Just walking

Reese love this little pluto...

Can't stop playing with it

Trying out caps in one of the shops

Playing with his diaper....on our way home in the plane....

Family portrait at Nam Cheong MTR station

We are back!!

Exhausted, happy, fun, yummy food, great memories, frustrated, angry, draining, super hot, Storm Warning No. 8 and glad to be back!

Will update on our trip tomorrow or the day after... now going to bed....... need to recharge.

Reese at 95%

Phew, it's Saturday today and we are flying off tomorrow! Reese has almost recovered. Fever gone since yesterday afternoon and by evening he was jumping and sweating like usual. He still has runny nose but it's getting less and the mucus is quite thick. As of this morning, he can breath normal while sleeping so I think he should be all clear by tomorrow! Yippie... we don't have to leave him behind...both hubby and I were very sad thinking that we might have to go without him. Ah...thank you Lord for answering prayers...

Now.. other worries... Will Reese be able to have a pleasant flight to Hong Kong? Will he have problem with the air pressure? Will we be able to handle him well in the event he throws tantrum or have ear ache? Can we avoid the dirty and disgusted stares from other passengers? mmmm... will definitely blog about it when we get back!

Current mood: Very excited

Have a good weekend everyone.

Mid Autumn Festival

Last Sunday was Mid Autumn Festival. We didn't have a celebration but decided to take Reese to play with his traditional lantern and some candles. It rained this year and in the evening, we tried to play candles and the lantern outside the balcony but it was too windy. So we took him to the corridor and eventually went down to the garden and found out there was a celebration by the residence in our condo. So excitedly we took Reese to join the others and he had some fun playing with more lanterns and watch older children playing with candles. It was quite a fun evening.

At the corridor playing lantern with daddy


Watching other children playing candles. He got a red lantern from an Aunty and abandon his fish lantern!

Reese is down with fever and runny nose!!

Gosh... we are leaving for Hong Kong on Sunday morning...... Please pray that he will recover before the trip other wise we have to go without him...we  really want to bring him along so that he can see Mickey mouse..... hai.....

Our little prince

I still remember the day he was born, I thought I would cry but I didn't, I thought I would love the baby instantly, I didn't and in fact, over the next few days.... I was asking myself how come I am not bonding with him well.... a lot of doubts.... but now... I am totally in love with him and so is hubby. We love him so much. No words to describe our love. :)

He is definitely the cutest, sweetest, most handsome, smartest little boy in our life! 

We love you so much Reese.

Snippets of our daily morning routine

Every morning on a weekday, Reese will go to his maternal grandparents' house and spend the day there. Besides going to my office for 3 hours daily I also conduct most of my classes at my mom's. Before I go to the office, I will usually take him for a morning stroll.... it's a must else my little one will throw tantrum!!



First stop, must drop by a neighbour's place to watch his favourite brown rabbit. He loves to touch the rabbit.




Next stop, to look at his big green leaves...



Then...climbing up the stairs to go to the gym...




Then...play in the gym room and then hike and seek.

Sometimes, if we don't go to the gym area, we will play bubbles near the swimming pools. When he is done with the above, he will settle down to watch his Mickey or Rocket and have his breakfast. If I have the time, I will feed him his breakfast else I will be off to work and see my precious later in the afternoon. While mummy's away... Gong gong will play and watch over Reese and then sleeps with him during Reese's nap.

If mummy has the time, Reese gets to go swimming too! Not bad eh?

Conversations with Reese

In the car:

While mummy was driving....

Reese: (pointing out the window) Lantern coming....
Mummy: Yes, lanterns are coming...

Upon passing the hanging lanterns at the shops....

Reese: (false laugh) Lantern! Lantern!

Along Ikea Road....

Reese: mblun (balloon) coming....
Reese: purpe mblun (purple balloon) coming...
Mummy: There..purple balloon.

Then...

Reese: tunnel coming.....

This goes on the entire journey to my mother's place every morning. Reese will tell you in advance what is coming...hehehe...

When we are close to the train station... Reese gets very excited... waiting eagerly to see the trains pass by...

Reese: Train station coming...
Reese: There...train!!
Reese: Thereriis (There it is)... train
Reese: Sit train go gai gai (go out)

The moment we reach my mom's place...

Reese: Come down go see rabbit...
Mummy: Where does Reese wants to go?
Reese: See rabbit... go see rabbit..

while taking our morning stroll..

Reese: Green leaves... see big green leaves
Mummy: ok...let's go see big green leaves..

Reese: Play hike and seek...
Mummy: ok.. go play hike and seek..

Reese: Go gym...
Mummy: ok....

Snack time
Reese: Hungry...eat banana
Reese: Drink water/kulp(yakult)
Reese: Eat kult (yogurt)
Reese: Eat prunes...

Lunch/Dinner time
Reese: Drink soup soup..
Reese: Eat mee mee..
Reese: Eat mac o cheese.....

On the way back home...

Reese: Water fall coming...
Mummy: What's coming?
Reese: Water fall coming...
Reese: (passing the waterfall).... waterfall....
Reese: Two lantern coming...
Mummy: Where are the lanterns?
Reese: There... two lantern...
After passing the lanterns..
Reese: Ahh... castle coming
Reese: There...castle... (there is this bungalow with castle like features...)

At the front gate of our home...

Reese: (very excited) shakes the gate... Daddy! Daddy!
Daddy: Hello Reese....
Reese: (super excited) Daddy!Daddy!

My boy is growing up so fast... and it's fun now that we can kinda converse with him... his ability to speak in sentences is getting better. He will be two by month end.

10 days to go...

Yes.. 10 days to go before our first family trip overseas!!! Yippie...

Over the past 2 months we have been preparing ourselves and Reese both mentally and physically for the trip.

First we found out that Reese was afraid of the train. So we take him for train rides almost every weekend. We have conquered the Monorail, LRT and last weekend KTM trains. :) I think it's 95% safe to say that Reese has overcome his fear for trains. Last week he was standing on his own in the train and having a fun time going off balance!

Besides taking the trains, we also constantly show him pictures of airplanes, the exterior and interior, the pilots and everything thing about planes... didn't make it to the airport to show him the real planes...too far. Oh, we even got a PSP to entertain him during the coming flight! hehe..

We also explain to him that we will take him to see Mickey Mouse and his castle. Daddy even printed a full colour picture of the castle!

As for our part, we have been keeping ourselves busy over the weekends taking him for train rides, window shopping, places of interest like Genting, Zoo and parks... by doing so, we learned to manage Reese during his nap time outside the house, food and most of all improving our stamina in carrying him and chasing him around!

It's alot of hard work but it's definately worth it! hehe...

So where are we going?

Hong Kong.

Planning to take a night cruise to see the Symphony of Lights, a day at Disneyland and a day for shopping. It's a short trip.

Why?

1. It's only about 3 hours flight. Not too long and since it's Reese first flight, it's better to have a short flight.
2. Reese likes Mickey Mouse and friends and afterall, and Disneyland is suppose to be the happiest place on earth! :) It's also the closes Disneyland around.
3. Daddy Reese wants to buy his Premium Zoids collection.
4. I want to see both boys happy.... ok...and also some shopping.... :)
5. Hubby and I deserve a break, we worked hard!! Haven't been overseas since 2005. Our last trip was to Orlando, Florida. We went to the biggest Disneyworld in the world. Hopefully, we will get to go again one day with Reese.
6. Maybe get to eat some good food too.... not sure with Reese around that is possible..hehe

Mandarin words

I tested some Mandarin words with Reese... :)

A great weekend

In his car seat

Like a little hamster

Big Boss

Getting ready to go out....

Mummy's cap

Watching cartoon while waiting for mac and cheese

Munching the sugar pack

Tired and being cheeky

Guess what I am doing?

So serious

I am the youngest standing KTM train passenger today!

I love it when I am off balance!

Another blur pic of the family

PSP is really good... waiting for KFC

A little fun at Jusco Midvalley

Reese kissed me!!!!!

Yes... Reese gave me a few kisses on my mouth and then my nose!! I just squeak with delight and overjoy! It happened last night while hubby and I were playing with Reese on the bed. I was asking him words in Mandarin and suddenly he climb on me and pull my head towards his and he started kissing me!!! Just like that.. he said kiss...kiss... first I was taken aback, then just blur all the way..cause I was super happy...hehehe....

This morning I tried asking for kisses but he ignored me! Hehehe... I am contended anyway. Mmmm... eagerly awaiting my second kisses.. Have a good weekend everyone!

Second Language (Mandarin)

From birth, we only communicate with Reese in English. So in a way, you can say that English is Reese's mother tongue.. haha..

I intend to let him learn Mandarin/Cantonese from my parents but they too got used to speaking in English with him.

Last week, my dad put on a new DVD for Reese to watch. It was an educational program that teaches Chinese speaking children English. Instead of learning those English words (he knew all of them long time ago), Reese pick up Mandarin words!! He saw the DVD less than 6 times and he already know quite a lot of Mandarin words! Amazing hor? hehehe... so proud of him. Only thing is, when he says the Mandarin words, it's like 'Kuai Low' speaking Mandarin. Hehehe..

Mandarin words he knows(excuse my ping yin):

show - hand
yen jin - eye
err tuar - ear
tow - head
pi je - nose
jui pa - mouth
ma ma - mummy
pa pa - daddy
jai jian - Goodbye

Now I am excited to teach him more... When I say one of the above words in Mandarin, he will immediately point to the body part and says translate it to English. Really fun.

At 23 months and 2 days old

Reese's terrible two year has started. When his demand for certain things not met, he will really scream and shout and wail ever so loudly. Last week we had a real taste of it. My mom took him to cut his hair and he got scared and refused. My mom had to force him and he cried and kicked and screamed. When at home, he kicked up a fuss again and when I came home he sort of settled down a bit but was super cranky the rest of the day. Later when hubby took him home while I went to work, he again got cranky and cried and hurled himself on the bed, bang his head, kicked and screamed. Hubby just don't know what to do and lost his cool and shouted at him and left him in the room for a while. Hubby was really angry with his son...hahaha... but later still sayang him...

Whenever we go out now, we have to be careful not to pass by places that sell balloons or windmills. He will insist on getting one otherwise, he will shout for that thing and cry. Other than that, he is ok. It's getting tough controling this little one. I have started to discipline him by not meeting every single demand. Like this morning, he wanted to play with the house keys and I needed them to close the door and gate, when I tried to take it from him, he protested, after reasoning with him failed, I just snatched the keys and close the house door. Leaving him inside to cry. After maybe 2 minutes, he tried to open the door and once he saw me... he cried again and I just ignored him. After another minute, I open the door and told him we have to go...and he stopped crying and let me take his hand and we went out. He was ok then. Ah kids.... terrible two terrible two...wonder what's next.

As for development, he is about 14.5kgs, height not sure, still picky with food, speaking in 4 to 5 words phases, talkative, playful, likes to describe things with colours and shapes like big green leaf, purple balloon falls down, green heart shape....etc... Now that he knows the 26 alphabet sounds, he will try to associate a thing to the correct alphabet sound. Mummy didn't teach much this month...a little lazy... only reads to him.... and he is also learning some mandarin words through a DVD... he knows papa is daddy, mama is mummy, pi ze is nose, jui pa is mouth and etc.. fun... I am still looking for flash cards in mandarin teaching simple chinese characters. and physically, he can climb up a ladder! Also likes to jump down a step or two.

Zoo and Genting Highlands

Yesterday we took Reese to the zoo, it was his second time and he enjoyed it. He recognized alot of animals and had fun chasing after some birds like sparrows and even a peacock! After an hour plus we left the zoo. Both of us were tired and on our way home... hubby suddenly asked.. you wanna go Genting? I was like huh? So hubby asked again and I said oklah... and we just managed to take the turn off to Genting! Hehehe.. crazy hor? Anyway... Reese slept in the car while we drove up to Genting. Upon reaching, we had difficulty in finding a parking space. After half an hour, we found one. Gosh.. it was soooo crowded. Reese didn't like the crowd. We had McD for lunch, Reese ate french fries and fried chicken and watched Little Eistein on PSP while we eat peacefully. :)

Reese liked the cool air and he enjoyed the breeze very much. After about 2 hours or so, we left Genting. I drove down and hubby and Reese slept in the car. Reached home around 4pm and spent the rest of the evening at home.

Don't think we are going to Genting anytime soon. Have to wait till Reese is much older when he can enjoy the theme parks. I prefer Cameron Highlands anytime...

Watching other children enjoying their car rides

He loves the slope.. running up and down

Enjoying french fries

Running with daddy in the bridge

Camera ran out of battery and daddy tried to take a pic of us manually

Breakfast before Zoo trip

Watching the elephants

A little mouse deer

Laughing with mummy when the lion roars

Doing his stunt...

Nurturing Thinking Learners in the Early Years Part II
by Dr. Lillian Katz

Principle 5

The younger the children, the more important it is to strengthen their dispositions to look more closely at the events and phenomena in their own environment worth learning more about.

Principle 6

The younger the children, the more important it is that what they are thinking and learning about has horizontal rather than vertical relevance. Vertical relevance means that what they children are learning about and learning to do is intended to prepare them for the next class. Horizontal relevance means that what the children are learning about and learning to do is meaningful in their present lives and current experiences. We are more likely to nurture young children's thinking and learning when we help them to make fuller, deeper and more accurate sense of their own experience and environments - topics that have horizontal relevance.

Principle 7

Unless children have early and frequent experience of what it feels like to understand something in depth, they cannot acquire the disposition to seek in-depth knowledge and understanding, to become life-long thinkers and learners. One important thing to keep in mind about dispositions is that once they are lost they are likely to be very difficult put back into the learner later.

Principle 8

The younger the learner, the more important it is to focus on intellectual than on academic goals. As children grow older, their education must address both of these two kinds of goals.

Academic goals are those that address small specific pieces of information and knowledge, and the skills required for competence in literacy and numeracy. They are typically items that can be either correct or incorrect. These elements of instruction are typically taught out of context they are practiced in exercise books and worksheets. Many of these are academic elements of instruction that have no internal logic but nevertheless must be memorized and learned, e.g. alphabet, numbers and etc.

Intellectual goals refer to basic dispositions, such as the dispositions to make sense of experience, to analyze, and theorize explanations of one's observations, to synthesize ideas and information, to seek understanding of cause-effect relationships, to predict consequences and events, to hypothesize and to speculate, and similar activities of the mind. For example, in her project approach to learning, your child and you decided to do a project on balls. From collecting different types of balls, you can branch into the function of different balls for different games, shapes of balls, measurement of the balls, colours, texture and so on. Children can make sense of what they are learning and gradual progression that can cover different area of studies.

Principle 9

Dr. Lilian said that the introduction to formal academic instruction too early and too intensely may result in children learning the academic details, but at the expense of the dispositions to use them, and at the expense of the development and strengthening of their intellectual dispositions.

There is now some research to indicate that children who have been in preschool programs focused heavily on academic exerises appear to do better than preschoolers who have more informal and child-initiated learning experiences when they are tested at the end of their preschool experience. BUT when they are followed up later during their elementary school years, the children who were in preschool programs focused on early academic instruction did not show the continuation of the early advantage (See Marcon, 2002). Futhermore, the long-term negative effects of early academic instruction appear to be more severe for boys than for girls. While this finding is difficult to interpret, on possible explanation may be that the early academically focused curriculum puts children in a passive role, on that is more likely to be difficult for boys than for girls in most cultures.

In sum, it is not much use for young children to acquire academic knowledge and skills early if the disposition to use them might be damaged in the processes of acquiring them. The focus of a curriculum in the early years should be to strengthen their intellectual dispositions and to introduce them, little by little, to useful academic skills to be used in the service of their intellectual pursuits.

Principle 10

It is best to assume that all children has strong intellectual dispositions to make the best sense they can of their own experience. The children's intellectual dispositions must be supported, appreciated, strengthened, and used.

to be continue.....

PSP

Killing 2 birds with 1 stone! 2 weeks ago, hubby bought me a PSP. I get to play games whenever and wherever I want (I am addicted and so is hubby) and we can keep Reese entertained while on the plane later this month!!!(our solution to his possible fear of taking the plane) Yesterday we took the PSP along when we went to eat Bak Kut Teh in Klang. Wah.... it works like magic... Reese contently sat in the high chair watching his current favourite cartoon Little Eistein on the PSP. We had a peaceful meal with my family. Only thing is, we need to get a stand for the PSP! Some pictures of Reese enjoying watching cartoon on PSP....hehehe...