Cheeky Reese at 3 yrs 8 mths

He is now very cheeky and playful. He is friendly with others and will play with anyone who shows an interest in playing with him! One funny boy.

Reese is cooking up a storm!

Yesterday I had a day off to rest my chest muscles. In the evening, as I was doing some ironing... Reese started to 'cook'. At first it was just pork noodles then he got creative and started to cook more food!...

Our conversation:

Reese: Mummy, this pork noodles is for you.
Mummy: Oh... thank you.
Reeese: (Busy scooping more legos into containers..) You(I) wanna cook bah kut teh mummy!
Mummy: Oh.. yummy...
Reese: Must add salt, tomato sauce....
-
-
Reese: now cooking 'wan tan mee'...
Reese: ...Chicken rice...
Reese: ...Spaghetti
Reese: ...Jelly...
Reese: ...'Ku low yok'
Reese: ...Fish and chips...
Reese: ...'Mee suah soup'...
Reese...Fishball noodles...
Reese:...mushroom soup...

All these cooking in 1 hour of playtime....hahahah... I really hope my son will grow up being able to cook! :)

A sign of getting old?

What are the chances of one hurting oneself by mopping the floor? Very very low right? Unless one is above 60....

Well, as I was mopping the floor yesterday morning, I hurt myself by pulling some major muscles around the chest area! Ouch! It hurts so much that even breathing had to be done slowly. I was in so much pain yesterday. Every single movement hurts. Finally I had to go to the clinic to get some medication! Worse.... our planned weekend getaway has to be canceled. Grrrr....

Now I have to just stay home and nurse the injury. At least this morning I can breath at ease and even blog! Could it be age? Or I am simply overweight! mmmmm....

Just being human...

How often do you react badly and your child got to bear the brunt of it? I am certainly not an angelic mom nor am I the most patient of all. Once in a while when I am stressed and my child did not behave too well I will get really angry and lash out at my poor son 2 to 3 times more than necessary. It's like I am releasing my anger on my poor child! I felt really bad afterwards but.... I am only human... does it sound familiar? Ha.. I sure hope it is...else I will be even more guilty!

I remembered when I was young, my mom did the same to me and my sister. I will always questioned why can't she take her anger else where! Why on us? I hated it very much. Sad to say... I am doing it to my own child. But seriously.... sometimes you just can't control it!

Just like yesterday evening, I was busy teaching and was all stressed up with some other issues and my dear son woke up and started whining over little things. Fine... I pacified him and gave him a piece of paper to draw. Earlier I drew 3 houses with tall chimneys for him to draw strings and balloons... he got angry and wanted only one house instead and demanded for some other stuff! mmm.... a little angry but it's ok.. he just woke up.. I told myself. Then it was dinner time, gave him his dinner and he refused to eat because I added vegetables. Gggggrrr.... I spent more than 1 hour earlier to prepare his dinner and now he was not happy with it... started throwing tantrum and wanted to play and didn't want to eat... That really put me off and I scolded him and force him to sit and eat his own dinner. Vegetable taken out already. One thing led to another..... I kept scolding him and threaten him with the thinking corner....bla...bla..bla.... My mom wanted to feed him and I told her off and everyone was like thinking what's the matter with me! After a good 1.5 hours... my son finished his food. I gave him a big hug and told him that he has to eat his dinner on his own and bla bla bla.... kissed him and kept telling him I love him so much. Thinking back I knew I was too harsh on the poor kid..... mmm...

What's your name?

Everywhere we go and whenever you ask my son his name.... he will tell you that he is Mr. Fredericsen. He will correct you if you call him Reese! He loves the old man from 'UP'. Why? I have no idea. He is just obsessed with it. Everyday he will take his house with balloons everywhere. Including going out for meals! He will draw nothing but balloons and Mr. Fredericsen's house. He will watch 'UP' on the Ipod and go to his favourite scenes repeatedly.

He does funny antics related to the movie 'UP'. He would talk alot about 'UP'. Daddy is sometimes Charles or Russell and mummy is Ellie. He loves to imitate things Mr. Fredericson did in the movie and it's funny watching him repeat line after line of what the old man said in the movie with complete facial expression.

When we built blocks/Lego... it must be Mr. Fredericson's house. Even the doll house is not spared! He remove all the furniture in the doll house to reenact the scene where the old man removed all his furniture in his house to enable the balloons to carry the house!

Even at school he will call himself Mr. Fredericsen. Everyone at school knows that. A child even asked me why is he calling himself Mr. Fredericsen? Oh well, at least he is not obsessed with Ultraman! I think I will faint then. Haha...

How to encourage creativity and learning....

As a parent who is learning and growing with my child, I sometimes don't know what is the best way to nurture my child in the most natural way and without being invasive. I want my child to discover new things on his own and thus able to be more creative! Creativity cannot be taught! I think our school system kills creativity. Even preschools and kindergartens are being very academic focused these days (So thankful that my son's school is not!). So sad. Children hardly play as much as what our grandparents and their parents used to.

My job is to teach young children and sometimes adults to read and write in English. At times I felt guilty selling to parents that children can read at a very young age! Even my son started reading at the age of 2.5 years old. Phhff! Ain't I contradicting myself? Well, not really. The way I teach... it's more like playing and having fun (for the very young). For my older students, homework from me is very rare. We also had a lot of fun in class. I believe in balance. Let the child learn at their own pace. Learning has to be fun and not a chore! Being a teacher, my job is to guide the child and when appropriate, I encourage and teach and never push(unless the child is truly lazy and a rebel).

So how to encourage creativity or learning? Provide the child with all the necessary tools and a conducive environment then encourage but never push or worse force! Show them examples of great work or better still, you demonstrate whatever you want to teach your child. Show them how much fun they can have and even if you are not good at it...it's ok... all you want to do is to show how much fun it is to learn or do a certain thing. Bottom line is to have fun and let the child explore all the possibilities as he learns. Do not belittle the child if he makes a mistake and in fact, our school system has make children afraid of making mistakes and thus in directly stunts creativity.

An example:

Reese has started to show interest in drawing, colouring and painting. So what do I do? Make sure I have all the necessary stationary like art block, lots of marker pens, colour pencils, tempera paint, an easel, tables in his playroom and also an extra table in the living room for him to do drawing. All within easy reach so that when he feels like drawing he can do so.

Then I started to draw his favourite things and show him once or twice what fun he can have with markers and the rest is history. I constantly think of what I can do to encourage him to try different methods of drawing and using different medium. A lot of mess sometimes but it's all worth it. He learns from mistakes and that is important. Children are not afraid of making mistakes and we should not make it a big deal when they do make a mistake or two, we need to encourage them that making mistake is ok and in fact it's part and parcel of the learning process.

Easel

Extra table in the living room

Markers!

Drawing and Colouring

I drew the picture and coloured the house and maybe a dozen of the balloons. Reese did the rest. He will colour 5 to 6 balloons a day and finally last weekend he completed all of them. He also added some additional balloons and fireworks (dots and lines you see around the house)

Watching a cartoon and drawing some 'excitement' from the cartoon this morning. He was babbling about a little girl doing something exciting. Not quite sure what was it.... was too busy writing this post. :)

Yesterday I drew another house on his request. This time he took charge of the art direction! He told me how he wanted the house and then he did the rest. He drew the strings and balloons and added curtains and a flag and some additional parts to the house. He did the colouring as well. Have yet to complete it but I am just so proud of him. He sure can colour well... no white spaces and almost never colour out of line. (I did not even teach all these things!) :)

Good Morning Sweetheart....

Reese: Good Morning Sweetheart...... (spoke in a deliberately slow manner)

Mummy: *Shiok* Good morning sweetheart.... eerr... Reese are you saying that to mummy?

Reese: No! talking to balloons!

Mummy: *Disappointed* Mummy is sad now...

Reese: Good Morning Sweetheart (Looking at me now)

Mummy: Now you are talking to me?

Reese: Yes!

Reese: Good morning sweetheart.... (looking at the balloons again and grinning away..)

Mummy: *sigh*

That is my dear son. :) Have a good weekend everyone!

Mummy? I want mummy love you (me).....

My little boy is getting very good at reading signs. The moment he detects anger in me, he will immediately asked me to love him and he will try to manja manja me.

I love it when he hugs me and hugs me like a bear! Most nights, he will ask me to hug him to sleep. He will guide my hand to hold his tummy area or at times, he will playfully climb on me to sleep or hug me with both his hand and leg.

I am waiting patiently for the day when he tells me that he loves me. :)

Whenever I can, I will carry my boy. I miss carrying him but these days... even hubby finds it difficult to carry him! He is soooooo heavy. So the only time now to be really close to him is during night time or nap time where I get to smell him and hug him snugly in my arms.

:) I love my only son so much.

Great Books, Great Value!

One of my favourite book store is located in Amcorp Mall in PJ. It is like a factory outlet for books at super cheap prices! I mean you pay about Rm35 for a novel and here you pay about RM17.90 for one. It's cheap and they also have books under RM10. They are all brand new but some do come with some printing errors or minor defects which is negligible. You do need some time to find some great reads as they have quite a variety. Last Sunday and yesterday we went to the bookshop and bought some books for Reese and myself. I paid close to RM200. If I were to go to MPH or Borders, my bill would have been doubled! The only thing is their children section is quite limited. The place is called Book Xcess. They are a floor above Popular Bookstore. I think on the 3rd floor. You can visit their website.

Teachers Day Cards

Opening up the boxes of sequins and stars deco

Reese has been blessed with 3 lovely teachers. They have been more than patient with him. I am glad the teachers found him adorable even though at times he did give them some hard times! Yesterday morning we made 3 teachers day cards for them. I did the planning and some simple drawings. Reese did the decoration and some colouring. We had a fun time doing them. It is Reese first in making greeting cards. :) Hope the teachers will like them. Can't wait to give it to them. Well, I think I am the one more excited. Hahaha...

Colouring the picture

Pasting the deco pieces

The finished product! Not bad huh? :)

Einstein the Doodle Master in the Making....

Hard at work!

The last few weeks saw Reese's sudden interest in colouring and improvement in his pencil holding and also watching Einstein the Doodle Master on TVIQ had led him to start doodling on paper and now on the easel. Finally he produced his first master piece yesterday. He did a drawing of Mr. Frederickson's house with a roof and strings (for the balloons).

Yesterday most of his play time was spend doodling and colouring. My dear son has discovered a new activity! Yippie!

Check out some of his master pieces.

First master piece. Looks a little like Van Gogh's art right?

It's Mr. Frederickson's house with a chimney and lots of strings.

Love Being an Idiot....

I love it when Reese genuinely laugh till he drools! It makes me feel so good that my son is happy. One of the best way to do so is when I am being an idiot in front of him! :) At his age, it's important we let him explore and have fun and most importantly we spent enough time with him. We love having silly plays. I enjoy watching daddy chasing Reese in Reese's baby bike and Reese will laugh and shouts non stop! Yesterday night while watching Thomas Cup finals (So disappointing) I played badminton with Reese using a toy guitar! That got Reese laughing like a horse....hehehe...

Just yesterday I was reading how important it is to play, play, play and read, read, read to your 3-4 year old child. Academic skills later please! (guilty because Reese started doing worksheets! but... school requires that..mmm... balance is the key.. )

I read about 'What should a 4 year old know?' by Alicia Bayer and I wanna share this with you.

She should know that she is loved wholly and unconditionally, all of the time... She should know that it is always okay to paint the sky orange and give cats 6 legs... He should know his own interests and be encouraged to follow them... Read the article

Old Kiddie Classic Records on a Lazy Day

A few months ago I stumble upon this wonderful site with lots of old classic records of the golden age for children. I am a sucker for golden oldies. :) It's really nice for a change to those boring modern children songs and stories. These were recorded even before I was born. They were rich in sound and content and just have that magical touch to it.

When I am too lazy to read Reese a book or just wanna enjoy some quite moments, I will play these records on the laptop while surfing the net and Reese and I will listen to these wonderful songs and stories. At the same time, it helps improve Reese's listening skills.... :)

Hope you will enjoy them too with your kids! Tell me what you think?

www.kiddierecords.com

Time for Work Sheets!

About a week ago, Reese's teacher told me that it was time that they be more firm with him in regards to joining group time and learning time in the class. For the past 4 months or so, Reese only joined these activities when he wanted to. The teachers allowed him to do so. So all he did was play and read and occasionally join in the activities (I am fine with it actually.. hehe).

So last Thursday they started to 'gently' force him to join group time. He cried and I was told since 2 days ago that now he is getting better and they can actually negotiate with him! Last night when I sent him to school, the moment I left him there the teacher called saying Reese was crying non-stop asking to go home! Wow! Never happened before but it stopped after five minutes. Mmmm.... must be all the changes lately. I hope he will get over this phase soon. It hurts to see him unhappy and cry.

Another area that the teachers want to work with him is learning time. The teachers at school will spend some individual time with each child when it comes to learning more academic stuff. Reese has been incorporative. Since last week, everyday after lunch at home I will spent 15 to 20 minutes with him doing worksheets. Explaining to him that he has to learn to do work with his teachers at school because he is a big boy! At first I thought I am going to fail getting him to do the worksheets but he surprised me by showing an interest in them! (Tried this several times over the months and failed) Now everyday we will spent 15 to 20 minutes doing literacy and math.

Every worksheet that I introduced to him, he is able to do without difficulty. He loves to do matching and circling exercises and dislike colouring. On average we do about 7 worksheets each session. When we do math, at his age it involves counting things and I realized that he can count things mentally without having to use his fingers up to about 4 and sometimes 5 items.

At school I was shown worksheets that he will be doing like for literacy. He needs to learn alphabets and their sounds and I had to tell the teacher that he already knew both upper and lower cases as well as the sound but I guess he still needs to go through the motion. In terms of learning academic stuff, Reese is really way ahead of his peers. For literacy he is actually doing Grade 1 materials except that he can't write. Math I am not so such but looking at the worksheets that he is doing with me at home, it seems easy for him except that he haven't been taught the number words and of course he can't write yet.

His grip of the pencil is almost 95% right. He has begin to write numbers. So hopefully he will also do alphabets. Reese is getting there. By the way, all without much forcing. I am not the crazy parent that makes an almost 4 year old to learn and learn and learn and no play. :) 99% of Reese's learning is through play and reading. He has always been an easy child to teach.

What about your kids? What challenges do you face when it comes to teaching?

A Simpler Life....

Just the other day as I was watching the animated cartoon 'UP' with Reese, I was moved by scenes in the cartoon showing Carl(The old man) and Ellie got married, built their life together, lost a baby, moved on and enjoyed the little things in life, a simple life and they were happy. That got me thinking... simple is good. I thought back to my younger days when having a car is like a dream! Just being with my husband riding on his 'kap jai' (motorbike) and enjoying a very simple life felt so good. We didn't have much money then but we were happy and quite contented.

Looking at what we have now, we thank God for everything but it's no longer a simple life. We are blinded by material things and we want the best of everything that we can afford. We are constantly worry whether financially we are secure. There are many commitments financially. We are never contented with what we have now. In order to maintain our current lifestyle, we work harder though I am fortunate that my work allows me alot of time to be with Reese and at the same time making very good money.

Sometimes I felt so tired. All the commitments, constantly going after better things and etc... Once I asked a friend who is with her hubby in South Africa doing mission work how's life (they gave up their jobs and left) and she said it's good. Life is simpler and she smiled. I have been observing people around me and even strangers on how they live their life. The very rich sure is enjoying life but it's way too complicated and the average family just as happy but less complicated and easily contented. I want to be like Carl and Ellie in the cartoon 'UP'. I want to be happy and less materialistic. It's easy to say but hard to change and do it. I guess I am sucked too deep into this complicated world.

Learning to please to the point of lying?

My dear son was never the rebellious type. He may throw very bad tantrums at times but at the end of a session he will listen to us. I guess most kids at his age want things to be done to their liking right? Reese is no exception.

We find reverse psychology works very well with him. For example, if we ask him to finish his food before playing... he will ignore us and continue playing. Then I will just tell him it's ok. Don't need to eat. You be hungry and I will take away the plate of food. Immediately he will say something like... "Don't want to be hungry!" (whines or tantrum starts), "I want to eat!!!" (getting angry). See? it always works. :)

Then lately... he has learned to read signs of us not being happy with his actions! He will then try to do petty actions to please you! Not only that... sometimes just to get away from being nagged or scolded he will tell you he did something rather than not! Now that's lying right? I don't think Reese fully understand how lying works but sadly... I can see he is getting there....*sigh*

He is growing up fast isn't it? Sooner or later he will pick up bad stuff from others... Oh boy! teaching him is going to get tougher...... got to be prepared!!

Life Skills

It's never too young to teach a child life skills. I grew up in a family where independence were taught very early in life. We do not have the luxury of a maid doing things for us and financially we were not able to have many luxuries. It is a blessing for me.

Living in a plural income society means less time for parents to spend with their kids. Having a maid seems to be a norm and to be without one is like nearly impossible. I had a maid for 3 years before she ran away last November. When we had a maid, everything will be done for Reese. Anything he needs, ask kakak to prepare. Pampered to the max!

Now 6 months down the road.... Reese is learning to be more independent. He is taught how to set the table before each meal. He has learned to keep his toys properly, helping out with simple chores (suitable for his age) and I believe if the maid is still around, he won't be doing any of the stuff I just mentioned. As he grows, I want to instill more positive values and life skills to prepare him for the real world!

Mother's Day

Started with some house chores (hubby wanted me to do nothing! but I can't bear to see him do all the house work... :)) and then 'tim sum' with my family.

Spent the afternoon lazing around, ironed a few pants for hubby, surfed the net, played with Reese and made some papaya/green tea drink for me and hubby!

Cooked pasta for dinner and everyone enjoyed it. All of us went into Reese's playroom and spent the rest of the evening there. Hubby played a game on Ipod, I played with Reese, did some drawings and later Lego building. Hubby ended joining us.

That was my Mother's Day. Simple and quiet. I am happy. :)

4 posts in one night!

Phew.... done! I haven't blogged for a long time and suddenly tonight even though tired, decided to do some blog post about my precious boy and I did four! :)

Hopefully more to come.... more to come....

Will be blog hopping again! Been busy and lazy and not feeling very well too.

Toys.... No End?

Wish I was as lucky as Reese!

We as parents seem obsessed with buying toys for Reese. Almost every week we will buy something for him. I know, we are crazy and now we are trying to control ouselves... hehehe.

His play room is already full and there are still toys in the living room that simply can't fit in the playroom!

At 43 Months Old

It's been a while since I last update. Reese has been growing well.

Learning

He has been having pockets of problems at school. Mostly related to his tantrums when he doesn't get his ways or not following instructions. After a month of reminder, threats, rewards and lots of love, he was mostly good the past 2 weeks coming to 3 weeks now. :)

His teacher told me that he only learns when he wants to. He doesn't like sitting with the teacher and literarily learn! He just loves to play with whatever that he fancies. His teacher told me that he has a fantastic memory and when they thought he was busy playing and not listening to the lesson, he would later go to the teacher and questioned them about the lesson! :)

His memory is really something to shout about! Not being proud here. It's true. :)

He is also singing more in tune and picking up more Hokkien, Bahasa, Cantonese and Mandarin.

Creativity

I used to say that he doesn't play creatively. Well, I am so wrong. His imagination and creativity are fantastic. He likes to pretend to be different characters from his favourite cartoons and he will make props out of whatever he can get his hands on! Then he will role play with me or whoever that is around. We are constantly surprised by him.

Physical Skills

He is still very active. He can hop very well, shake his hips, climbs obstacles, kicks and the latest, we are teaching him how to do roller blading! No joke! :)

Emotional Skills

He is learning to control his tantrums and whining. He will feel sad or panic when mummy or daddy is hurt. Learning to share things with others. He always says 'I am so sorry' when he does something wrong or when he accidentally hurt someone. He has more control over his emotion now.

Personality

He is a very friendly boy. Everywhere we go, if there are children around, he will go play with them. He is not the shy type!

Reese has always been considered a good boy in the sense that we do not have to use the cane. He is controllable. He is always cheerful and happy. Only when you upset him will he get really mad and then the tantrums!

He can be a very cheeky boy too!

Food Intake

Good eater and less fussy. I am controlling his food intake and don't want him to be overweight. From baby till now, doctors claimed that he is overweight. He may not look overweight but he is damn heavy! Very very solid. He is about 21kgs.

Can't think of what else to update... :)

Training Reese to Use A Pencil

Reese was never interested in drawing or colouring. So I never bothered to do any of the related activities.

In fact, I have no idea how to teach him to hold a pencil (he is left-handed) let alone draw! Thank God for school, Reese has began to hold the pencil more correctly and has learned to not colour out of the line.

The past month, I started to draw things related to his favourite cartoons. One of those were balloons carrying a house from UP. Reese has always been fascinated with balloons since he was a baby. So I took advantage of that and tried to ask him to colour with magic colour. He actually did it and told me that he must not colour out of line! I was impressed. At times, he spent close to an hour colouring the balloons and he did a great job too, each balloon filled with colours and nothing out of the line.

First Art Project

My son was never an arts and crafts person. So after a few attempts, I gave up!

Today we did our first art project with me doing the planning, hubby helped out with the cutting and supervising Reese with the pasting. Reese did 90% of pasting. It was amazing. We were all satisfied with the end result. The only reason he was willing to do this was because of his love with the UP cartoon.

He loves Mr. Fredrickson and Russell but most of all the balloons that carried the house. For the past two months or so, he has been imagining balloons carrying Mr. Fredrickson's house all over the place. Recently, he uses one of the toy rescue station as Mr. Fredrickson's house and for the balloons, he uses pegs and some deflated balloons!! He will go around the house pretending the balloons (pegs) are taking the house (rescue station) high up in the sky.

His pretend Mr. Fredrickson's house

So after dinner at about 8.30pm today, I decided to do an art project with Reese. From planning to completing the balloons and replace the pegs with them, it took about one and half hour.

Daddy supervising the pasting

The balloons that was completed with the drawing I did this morning

Quite similar right?

Replacing the pegs with the balloons

Reese enjoying his new balloons on Mr. Fredrickson's house!

Mission accomplished.

Next post will talk about his colouring skill.

Hot Air Balloon Fiesta

Mummies and daddies,

There is the 2nd International Hot Air Balloon Fiesta in Putrajaya till this Sunday. It is going to be fun for the kids! I am going this Saturday evening as they will also have fireworks display! See you there!

My boy loves hot air balloons and I think it's going to be an eye opener for the whole family. Imagine seeing more than 10 giant hot air balloon around you! :) I am not going to miss it this time!!!

More details:
http://www.myballoonfiesta.com

Reading Progress

If you have been reading my blog, you will realized that I haven't blogged on his reading! Why? Because mummy was too lazy and at one point Reese wasn't interested in reading! I didn't want to push him, he is still young. :)

So after at least 5 months of no reading exercises, I started again 4 days ago with high frequency words (flash cards) and phonics (computer). To make sure he doesn't get bored, I only flash the cards twice (less than 5 minutes) and if he is in a good mood, I will flash it once more. That's it. Then I will repeat this maybe another time in the evening. So less than 10 minutes a day with flash cards. :) I will turn on the Macbook and let him play the phonics and math games for as long as he wants at least once a day (can only do so when at home in the mornings or evenings).

Two days ago, after flashing cards, I will write simple sentences for him to read and it's nice that he can almost effortlessly read the following on his own.

Day 1:

1. Reese can see.
2. I can see.
3. The cat can see.
4. The dog can see.
5. Mum can see.
6. The cat is fat.
7. The cat is on the mat.

Day 2:

1. The rat can see Reese.
2. The cat is for Reese.
3. Reese is sad.
4. Reese is in the house.
5. The fish is in the water.

Today:

1. The pig is on the barn.
2. The frog is on a log.
3. The bug is sad.
4. The rocket is hot.
5. The sun is big and hot.

** Something funny, each time he sees his own name, instead of reading his name, he will replace the name with Lightning Mcqueen (He is currently Lightning Mcqueen the race car)!

I combined both phonics that he knew with high frequency words that I am working with him. So far so good and the learning is kept at less than 5 minutes each time and I tried to do it twice a day. A tip mummies and daddies, never force and do it when the child is ready. Happy learning. Will update more soon.

Kids' Theatre

One of the cast member (She was Gerald the giraffe)

Trying to go on Stage

Waiting excitedly to go in

If you have been following my blog you would know that Reese has a phobia of large crowds, loud music and sudden clapping and laughter. Reese's school decided to take the children to a kids' theatre performance entitled 'Giraffes Can't Dance' before the start of the term break. I was hesitant simply because of his phobia. I was afraid that my money will go down the drain with us leaving the performance the moment it begins. So after some thinking at the last minute I decided to take the risk!

Been prepping Reese for it, the school has been preparing the kids too. The teacher told them the story twice and told them how to behave when at the theatre. I had also been doing my part by showing Reese some pictures of the puppets and what to expect.

So the big day came yesterday. We were all so excited. Reese can't wait to go and once there, we waited for about 20 minutes to get in (Playing and running around with his classmates) and the moment the opened the doors.... my Reese saw a little of the inside... dark, loud music ( music of some animals in the jungle) and the cast members welcoming us!

Reese panicked.... and my heart was thinking... oh no..... He refused to get in and wanted to leave.... tried persuading him but didn't work! so I carried him and he immediately started to struggle and grunt and started to throw violent tantrums! Managed to get him to our sitting place and tried all kinds of persuasion and eventually got some sweets from the teacher to calm him down. He ate 5 Mentos sweets! (First time eating sweets!) So my boy finally calm down and to cut the story short, he had a great time there interacting with the cast members and laughed, screamed and talked and etc...

I was very proud of him and was glad that I took the risk and did not waste the RM80 (We got a free upgrade to premium seats. We 3rd row from the stage!) :)

About the performance:

It's kids' theatre by Blunderbus Company from the U.K.

The performance was quite good with 3 actors taking different roles in the story.

Props were simple. Some puppets and minimal stage props.

Actors were very engaging with the audience. The children loved it. Before the start of the performance, the actors took time to chat with the children at their seats.

Verdict: It's great for the kids and great performance from the actors. It's really meant for young children.

Next step is to bring Reese to the movies! Hehehe....

Buy one free one!

Yesterday after school, we had a little fun eating ice-cream at BR. First time Reese had an entire cone to himself! BR is having a promo where by every Wednesday, if you wear something pink (Reese wore a pink t-shirt) or bring something pink like a mobile, camera... you can purchase a Jr single scoop of any flavours and they will give you another scoop free! I think the promo ends end of April.

So mummies, it's time to give your kids a treat. ;)

Milestones at 41 months

Wah..... been so long since I updated his milestone...... just plain lazy!

Height unknown (considered tall as compared to his peers)

Weight around 21kgs to 22kgs

Speech - Speaks tooooooo much to the point of annoyance!

Vocabulary - Fantastic

Academic -

Writing (not ready to do so)

Math and Science - Random learning (Mummy lazy to teach and have not started this year's homeschooling)

Language - Pick up a few BM words, Hokkien and Mandarin

Physical - Loves outdoor play. Very active. Tried skating and he likes falling and bumping his butt!

Creativity - Getting better, will constantly use everyday things and 'turn' them to something else and play. For example, he will open up hard cover books and place them on the floor like tents and claimed that there are many tents and houses! Once he did that with over 20 books all over the floor! Lately, he will take a bundle of colour pencils and use them to lift up a table calendar (shaped like a triangle) and claimed that the balloons are lifting up the house and flying away! (He has been watching UP). He likes pretend play more now and getting very imaginative. He has been playing with alot of cars, garages and pumping petrol.

Food - Eats alot till I have to control his food intake! :)

Habits - Loves to stick himself to us when he sleeps! He likes his body touching ours and will always request that I hug him to sleep (loves it). He has this really weird habit when he goes to sleep, he must touch a pillow with a very smooth pillow case!! He will keep touching it and feeling the smoothness of the surface before drifting to sleep. :)

Still takes a nap daily and it's between 2 to 2.5 hours each.

Temper - Can be very bad temper but usually controllable. He likes to grunt and jump when upset. At times like a Red Indian moving around a camp fire! Hahaha..

He is also sociable and will play with other kids easily.

Totally not shy and way too active.

Phobia - He still has a phobia of very loud or noisy sound and still dislike very crowded places especially with alot of adults.

Leader Material...

Had another chat with Reese's teachers on Thursday. This is what I was told.

He doesn't like group time. (Requires them to sit together in a circle and do singing and some other things together. He only sings and do actions for songs he likes. At times he will asked to go to the 'Thinking Chair' and then throw tantrum!

He now plays with other children and teacher commented that he is the leader type (I was surprised and happy). He likes others to follow what he does rather than he follow others.

As for learning, has to be done at his own terms! Teacher said he is different from other children because for others, when teacher tells them to come sit with a teacher to learn they will obey but Reese will not and he will grunt!

Looks like Reese IS quite different from the children at school! So far, he is the most hyper and will only do things at his own terms. *headache*

Hope he will settle in school well and start behaving like a student! Hehehe....

If You Give A Mom A Muffin

If You Give A Mom A Muffin - Original Author Unknown

If you give a mom a muffin, She'll want a cup of coffee to go with it..
She'll pour herself some.
Her three-year-old will spill the coffee.
She'll wipe it up.
Wiping the floor, she'll find dirty socks.
She'll remember she has to do laundry.
When she puts the laundry in the washer,
She'll trip over boots and bump into the freezer.
Bumping into the freezer will remind her she has to plan for supper.
She will get out a pound of hamburger.
She'll look for her cookbook ("101 Things To Do With a Pound of Hamburger").
The cookbook is sitting under a pile of mail.
She will see the phone bill, which is due tomorrow.
She will look for her checkbook.
The check book is in her purse that is being dumped out by her two-year-old.
She'll smell something funny.
She'll change the two year old's diaper.
While she is changing the diaper, the phone will ring.
Her five-year-old will answer and hang up.
She'll remember she wants to phone a friend for coffee.
Thinking of coffee will remind her that she was going to have a cup.
And chances are...

If she has a cup of coffee, her kids will have eaten the muffin that went with it.

Hair cut done right!

For the past few months, we managed to get Reese to have a hair cut by a professional. It wasn't easy but each time was an improvement! Last weekend, we took him to have his hair cut again and I think we have found the perfect solution to get him to sit still and have his hair cut properly. We gave him the Ipod! He was so engrossed with the game that he didn't bother the hair stylist at all (Usually will move around and refuse to let the stylist use the electric shaver!). He sat there and in less than 15 minutes, all done. :)

Reese has a playroom!

Two tone glow in the dark wall paper (installed when I was pregnant with Reese)

Strong colour combination with simple furniture

We even put up a hot air balloon I bought 2 years ago for Reese

A glow in the dark puzzle completes the room.

Hubby and I bought it while I was pregnant with Reese

Last Saturday I had a sudden urge to turn the 3rd room (previously the maid sleeps here) into Reese's playroom. So we went to IKEA in the evening and got some racks to store some of the things in the room. We also use this room to do our ironing plus store room previously. The next morning, we went to IKEA again and got another rack, bookshelf and a carpet! Then went to a shop in Giza to buy some planet theme wall stickers. After spending half a day, we have a playroom minus the air-cond. The next day, which was FT day, we went to an electrical shop and got an air-cond. Yesterday they came and install the air-cond.

After all the hard work, all three of us are enjoying the room very much. Now I can do ironing without sweating! Still need to work out how to move more of Reese toys into the playroom! There are still half of his toys in the living room! :)

Singing Gong Xi Gong Xi

Singing the CNY song!! He doesn't know Mandarin and yet able to sing the song with weird pronunciation...hahaha...

HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!

We will be out of town for 9 days! Yippie....

CNY Party

Last Friday Reese had his first CNY party at school. He wore a CNY outfit and had a lot of fun. Too bad I was not able to join in the fun and only managed to capture a few pics at the end of the party. Some parents told me that I missed out on him singing and the teacher said that he was her star singer that day! Wish I could see it!

First Month Report

Had a little chat with Reese's teacher at school yesterday. This is what she said of Reese:

1. High level of concentration in what he does. Totally focus.

2. Likes repeating task that he likes.

3. More active than the rest of the kids in his class. (teacher is being kind.. hehehe.. in other words, he is hyper active)

4. Hates to be disturbed while playing/working on a material (various activities displayed on shelf). He will throw super tantrums!

5. Very good in UNDERSTANDING instructions. For example, teacher told him that if he wants to work on a new material, he must ask a teacher to teach him how to do so. He actually will ask before taking a new material to work on.

6. Not so good in OBEYING instructions but controllable.

7. Teacher thinks he is the physical type. Loves physical activities.

8. He does listen to teachers when told that he should think about what he did and be excluded from group activities for a while. He will immediately obey and he hates to be excluded from group activities. Hehehe... kiasu?

9. Teacher thinks that he is not ready for writing (totally ok with me... no hurry)

10. Overall he is good and a bubbly child in class. :)

I am very happy with his progress at school. At least I know he is not destructive and uncontrollable! Another thing I am happy is that so far no bullies in his class! Every time I go and pick Reese, some of his classmates will immediately call out his name and inform him that I am here to pick him up... sweet isn't it? I am really happy.

Discipline

When Reese was about 2, I always wonder how will I ever discipline him without using the cane, minimum scolding but alot of reasoning? There are books that tell you not to scream or shout at your kid, don't spank and etc.... Is it possible?

Reese is now 3+ and I am glad to say that he can be discipline with a little effort. He was never a difficult child. Over the past years, during his most difficult time (terrible two), he was smacked on the leg a couple of times, shouted at alot and I did scream a few times when it was too much! At the end of each session, we will feel extremely guilty. Kept telling ourselves we have to calm down and use the softer approach and eventually we introduced the 'corner'. Since turning 3, Reese is easier to discipline and by merely mentioning the corner, he will listen to us. He also developed a habit of grunting and stomping his foot when he is angry. Wonder where he pick that up!

I am just glad that we do not have to shout or smack him now. All we have to do is mention the 'corner' or do some reasoning with him and he will listen. I am thankful that I do not have a difficult child (especially seeing how parents beat and scold their kids in public and yet the child seems immune to it! Yikes!) but then again, I wonder when he is a teen, how do you discipline him then? Afterall, many parents will tell you that disciplining a teen is even harder!! Imagine, you definitely cannot shout as and when you like, definitely cannot smack his butt.... gosh... dare not think about it. Hehehehe...

What about your discipling style?

After 2 weeks....

Ah.... 2 weeks past and I am very pleased with Reese and the school. :)

Out of 4 days Reese was sent to the 'thinking chair' twice! He cannot take instruction that was what the teacher told me. He cried when sent to the thinking chair and yet when I asked him whether he still wants to go school..... a very loud YES was the answer. Reese loves school. After 2 days at school, he will remind himself that he has to 'tidy up' after play even at home! :) Wow...

Every day he would report back to us what he learned at school. So far... two weeks of school, he learned a new song and sang to us (out of tune). Learnt to tidy up after playing (at home only when he is in the mood but if asked to.. he would), the names of his classmates and last Friday, he sang a Chinese New Year song to us in Mandarin and told us about China Town.... :)

He loves school so much. Teachers also said he is taking instructions and no 'Thinking Chair' during the second week.

So far I am pleased with the school. There are 12 kids with 2 teachers on Wednesday and Friday and 3 teachers on Tuesday and Thursday. Currently there is a volunteer helping with the class too. So there are 4 adults to 12 kids on certain days! All children are learning at their own pace and they are all given individual attention when it comes to doing activities and learning everyday. The teachers are really dedicated. As for snacks, parents of the children will take turn to provide and I have volunteer to do so every Friday. So children will have quality snacks everyday from Tuesday to Friday. Last Friday was my turn and I forgot! Hehehe... so ended up buying chocolate/sugar doughnuts and yogurt for the children.

Now that Reese has settled nicely in school, I am trying to prepare his homeschooling materials and schedules. Will be coordinating with the school's syllabus if I can. The teacher has agreed to give me a summary of what Reese will be learning and doing this year. Homeschooling for this year will start in March. Yippie....

First Day of School

Yesterday was Reese's first day at school. We were excited and wondered how he was going to react to school without mummy around. Will he cry? Will he ask for mummy? Will he listen to instructions? Will he be bullied?......

So early in the morning, packed his new baby Tigger bag with extra set of clothing and hanky and a bottle of water. Got him ready by 7.30am and gave him his breakfast at 8am. By 8.20am we were on our way to school. I kept telling him what he must do at school and that mummy won't be there. He seemed to understand and kept saying he wanted to go to school.

When we reached school, immediately he head straight for the classroom and started playing. Not even bothered when I left. Those 3 hours for me was like suspense. :) The head teacher told me that usually they will let the new kids go home half hour early so that they don't feel so threatened. But she didn't call me! At 12pm I was at the school, anxious.... as I peek through the window of the classroom, not exactly knowing what to expect.... but Reese was busy playing with other kids! Immediately I was relieved. He was ok. Had a little chat with the head teacher and was told Reese was fine thoughout the 3 hours except that he can't take instructions too well. Ah... I expected that! At home, he gets what he wants and we let him do what he wants within limits. Hehehe... Teacher said that it's quite normal and soon he will learn to be more discipline. Fine with me.

I was also impressed with the school. Student teacher ratio was really great. There were only 11 kids in the school and there were 3 teachers and an assistant! 4 adults to 11 kids. Wow... that's great isn't it? Really happy that Reese managed to get a place for himself there!

First day of school and he already came home telling me he learned about islands and lakes and he was able to describe them to us quite well. Even able to tell us some new friends' names at school.

When I told Reese we had to go, he refused! Wanted to play some more. Hahaha... Took him to McD for lunch and I guess hubby was anxious too cause at 12.15pm he called and asked how were things. :) I am proud to say we are lucky parents because our child seems to like school alot and we don't have to endure all the crying and heartache for the first couple of weeks of school! Phew....

Ah... can't wait to see some photos taken by the thoughtful teacher at school. Will post them once I have them. I am one happy mummy at the moment!