(2008/07) July 2008

Mich
Thanks for Berries info
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It sounds like fun! I am sending the boys for trial lessons to see if they enjoy it.

L can read some Chinese and knows some English. But he will not read aloud unless he is in the mood to do so. A couple of weeks ago he was really into forming words with Scrabble blocks so that's what we did in the afternoons. He's willing to sit through anything that involves Thomas the Tank Engine so I read those to him in English and Mandarin. Now I know the names of the engines in Chinese LOL *roll eyes over and over again*

Doggiebb
Hooray on Talia's progress! Am sure it is partly your involvement with her that's helped as well, not just the class. And wow that is a good deal at Popular!
 


Dashers to popular soon! I got discount card!

Eboy is also into Thomas and we have entire collection of English and Chinese Thomas story books. Bought them during Chinese book fair, very cheap!

So we doing photography for our July champs?
 
Cellow
Actually I really really think that at this point, the kids (at least poppy) are not "reading" but just regurgitatindont worry!
 
I meant: "regurgitating, don't worry"

Man, what a day. Been packing and packing things to give away to salvation army and now my lower back hurts so much! Just told bluebunny "I know you're excited about the baby's arrival too but also try to channel some of that excitement into getting the house ready to welcome the baby ok?". Sigh. I'm so tired. Looking for poppy's old clothes, washing them, making sure got everything, reminding him to set up and clean cot, tidying up, buying all the necessary stuff like baby detergent and soaps and breast pads and settling confinement food and, and, and.... Even though preggie, I still have to be the household secretary. Hello, does anybody acknowledge I am growing arms and legs and eyes and nose and mouth and fingers and toes and internal organs inside me?! That's a lot of work!!!

Grumble grumble

Youpi
That looks like fun! Will check it out. And wow re L forming words!
 
PB

show you a blog. this guy used to chat here. his son is borne in july 08. i kept track of his blog because coincidentally his wife and I both gave birth on the same day in the same hospital.

the way darius could read and write words is amazing. T2 could read and definitely could not write like him.

http://www.ourbabyoflove.com/page/2/

to be honest, everytime i read this blog, i feel like doing a headless chicken flap thingy... :p
 
youpi,
L sounds like Dec. He knows but will not read aloud unless he's in the mood or if I insist.

doggiebb,
I think you shared this blog before. It's blogs like these that make me do the Ostrich thing, not the headless chicken flap thing.

AND to make things worse, Declan's best friend attends Berries, I Can Read AND Yamaha.

*bbp goes to play games to get her mind off these i-am-not-enriching-my-son feelings*
 
mummies
actually i m very bad. with jh i spent a lot of time teaching and coaching him. with jx i don't. so it is not a wonder that she doesn't progress as fast as jh...quite bad hor. but now that jh is entering p1 next year, i want to make sure he doesn't fall behind. he probably doesn't but just wan to make sure he is well prepared.

maybe maybe maybe i really shd start looking at jx....we did word recognition for a while and thankfully she still remembers them though we have stopped haha...she can read her body parts, family, fruits and toys. now we are trying shapes.

she has also been qutie interested in this presch book that i bought from her from school zone series. i like their books. nice, colorful and fun. jh got his own version too and the activities are qutie varied.

that day we did painting and after doing her abstract painting, she told us it's a dragonfly. i showed my hb and he said dun bother to waste money sending her for art classes...haha....
 
bbp

you got grandparents to do berries with dec at home. and dec already can read, so no need I Can Read. so you only need to think about yamaha? did i just make you feel better? wahahah!
 
doggiebb, dd,
Thanks girls... you all make me feel better. Hahahaha.

Talking about the National Anthem, it's horrendous! It's the typical anyhow-whack kind of singing!
 
says the one who is looking for a 1-1 piano teacher for bbG!

but but bbp, really really no worries for Dec. he is the fastest todd to stand, walk, run, talk, write, sing, dance... and what else... if anybody, i should be the ostrich cum headless chicken but no I am not.

I have 100% trust and confidence in eboy that he is a champ himself and I just need to appreciate his talents and learning pace accordingly and most importantly, never to compare cos every child is unique. can read and write early doesnt mean anything if he does not have a good heart and good character and personality when he grows up. that to me is more important... chill..
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Mich,
No la! You say until Dec is some genius... which he is most definitely not. That title belongs to youpi's S
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Yes, I know I don't need to worry but when faced with parents who have lots of enrichments for their children, I can't help but feel like I'm not doing enough. It becomes that it's not Dec who's not performing, it's me!
 
PB
Just very small words, like 'up' and 'out' and 'in' and 'down' and 'stop', 'no parking', etc. All learnt from carparks and while on the road LOL.

Bbp
*Hi5!* on ostrich and no enrichment
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I tell myself that I am giving them a Scandinavian (or is it Finnish? ) upbringing - mostly play all the way until they go to school at age seven ;P

Berries or some Chinese class is needed 'cos I cannot teach them Mandarin and have no answer when S asks me what a particular word is etc ;\

Mich
Your style sounds perfect. Eboy is blessed to have a mum like you
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... Okay just looked at the blog that Doggiebb posted -- it's Wavesurfer, isn't it? -- and am burying my ostrich head even deeper into the ground. S was not as genius as this boy lah!
 
Mich
Do you know where the Chinese Thomas books are sold? Apart from the book fair which I missed and can't wait another year for? We have been borrowing from the library, but I don't mind buying since L likes them.
 
Youpi, I can mail some books for you first if you'd like, just to, you know, see if L truly likes it? We have a lot at home, surely will have enough for eboy... Plus lately he is into dinosaurs, not do into Thomas, let me know! I think bras basah may carry them....

A thought! Maybe we should arrange a mini book club for the kiddos one weekend!! Then we bring books and let each child choose what they like, bring it home then next time we meet we get them to do a little story telling etc (of course with eboy I must assist cos he can't speak yet mah). Then we circulate books with one another!! Idea idea!!
 
Great idea much!

E boy can play better tennis than me leh.. And G loves music leh but I might be shelvin the idea of a 1-to-1 teacher for now and may try teaching him myself? Hehe!

Jo: miss Deborah totally got no capacity and miss Gan has to confirm again in a few mOnths' time. Were they both ur teachers? Or who's teaching Your G now?
 
youpi
haha i think i too have been too brainwashed by swedish values. play play play! then come to pri 1, mummy stress stress stress! haha. maybe could move to sweden haha.

bbp
agree with doggiebb - dec has 24/7 berries class at home! he is effectively billingual ok! steady la this boy

doggiebb
something tells me i should NOT click on that link!!

girls, you are scaring me a little with this berries class and music lessons talk.... *sweden, sweden, sweden, sweden, ommmmm*
 
PB
All hail Scandinavia! Salut Sweden! Yay for Norway!

I am going back to get my old Chinese-English dictionary tomorrow morning...

Mich
Great idea on weekend book club! Though I don't think my boy is at the storytelling stage... No need to post books *thank you for offering!* as we have been borrowing them from the library and the postage will be a killer! I'll go check out Bras Basah one day.
 
storytelling
i think by the time poppy finishes a story, everyone would have run off to play with train tracks or gone for dinner. her stories take forever, if they are completed at all. full of "and then"s and "and you know what?" haha.

youpi
i think i may just have shredded my chi-eng dictionary the same day i completed my O levels chi paper hahahaha. hey "no parking" is a biggie to spell!!! woohoo!!!

bras besar book shop
there is a really cheap and good one on the top floor called "the children's bookshop" (or similar). many many books below $5. you'll have to browse but i very very seldom come out empty handed.

heyyyyy city hall mums (calling doggiebb and jace), wanna meet at hanis at bras besar?

and guess what? though i have never read the faraway tree, i spotted it in my bookshelf today! bluebunny picked it up at one of the library exchange events!! haha
 
Mich: great idea on the weekend bookclub! I like!
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Have you walked eboy to the new school already? There's a park next to the school where the teachers will bring the kids there for scheduled outdoor plays, not sure if they still do that though. Maybe can talk about the new school beginning with the park?

Dd: Gwyn's teacher is Deborah. The slot you want must be popular? Gwyn goes on weekdays, early pm. They write and publish their own music lessons so ms Gan must be busy with that.

BBP: to add on, no wow factor on I can read, overrated. I think what you are doing with dec now is better! He can read!
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Youpi: are you sending your boys to berries? I heard from from friends who have kids in primary school that berries is good for pre-schoolers. Primary school Chinese needs other forms of teaching. So you may want to source for another center that can support S in his mandarin? There's a quite good one in Thomson plaza which caters to primary school children, they do compo and stuffs on top of word recognition and vocab building. How they do it I'm not sure but sure is in accordance to pri syllabus. FYI.

Music and art are the only ones on my list. The rest are adhoc, need then send; and only if I can't cope and need insights to teach, I'm not going to load Gwyn with enrichment classes also.
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youpi,
The Finnish way! I've heard so much about their non-classroom teaching methods that I'm simply in awe.

Mich,
I like that book exchange idea. You know, youpi had the same idea for the moms, but we have yet to do it
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And as for story telling, doubt Dec can do it. Asking him what he had for breakfast in school is already an ordeal. Machiam pulling out his teeth.

PB,
Yes, whatever you do, DO NOT click that link. I clicked it, roughly glanced through the first 2 posts then promptly closed it. Eh, you're a very hardworking mother can. All those crafts and everything!
And at least Poppy will tell you stuff! When I ask Dec stuff, he usually doesn't want to tell me. He will only randomly give me nuggets of information when I least expect it.

Now why can't Declan get a best friend with a mom like you all??? Sigh.
 
oh no bbp, that's if i ask to hear a 'story'. then she tells me about giants hiding in the floor of the classroom and springing out at her 'and i say "AH!" and my classmate X say "AH!" and my classmate Y say "AH!"' and them running away and going to bridges where they check for trolls and then eating at X restaurant and going to hort park and 'you know, i saw a caterpillar at hort park and i like to play with boats in the shower and X don't want to sit with me on the school bus but my bus driver is very friendly'. alamak. this girl!

but when i ask her what she did in school, she smiles and shrugs and says 'nothing!'. alamak. this girl!

er ya i do crafts with her and read to her. but that's it. and come to think of it, we like doing crafts, we like colouring, we like cutting.... but i sometimes wonder how helpful it all is. i'm hoping that in the overall picture, it helps to er, expand her thinking?

and when she comes home with the chinese cards from her school, i am so panicky and impatient. terrible. piak piak myself. but i have no idea how to do 'real revision'!!!
 
Ooh Emma reads too hahaha more like babling. Sometimes she opens the book and just talk and talk, but not about the characters of the book, just her imagination. When she is in the car she would take the map and point anywhere and said that we are at certain point in the map and going to reach home soon. Lately she doesn't even want to read/do some activities.

I went to school yesterday for a parent teacher meeting. The teacher said Emma is quite assertive and they are working on her so she could show some negotiation skills instead. She didn't really force people but she would report to the teacher if she didn't get what she wanted. Not only that, apparently Emma is capable of giving out tons of valid excuses for her actions. Hey that sounds like MR SD!!!
 
PB,
Haha, that story sure sounds interesting!
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For revision, just get her to teach you! So far, Dec has only brought home 1 reader from his school and he's taught that reader to me, Mr bbp, and his third uncle's gf.

SD,
I want Parent-Teacher meeting too! I'm so curious as to what they do in school and what happens in school! The only thing I know is that Dec takes time to warm up to a new activity or place or teacher. I think the last one only applies to male. Haha.
 
Oh dear oh dear oh dear
Eboy's new school has outbreak of HFMD and we decided to start him one month later!!! What tough luck!!! Thank goodness his current school willing to keep him another month!!
 
Jo, is it a common thing for his new school to have such outbreak? cos his current one is huge and very very clean... almost no cases all the time, even during outbreak season.. cos got 2 auntie always clean and sanitise. plus the compound is big so easy to segregate the children.. it doesnt spread from one class to another...

I'm just worried that after shifting him, he may end up attending less days in school due to these outbreak...

those kiddos already in Pats, is it bad?
 
mich
oh dear lucky he hasn't started!

there was a pats schoolhouse in the papers recently which had to close for 10 days due to HFMD.....

re bookclub
sounds fun! i m on! got lots of books at home, eng and chinese to contribute

youpi
if u wan the chinese thomas ones, i can help u. i do have some spare ones at home. brand new. u wan?
 
bbp, exactly! I always hear about this HFMD all year long, and that is why am concerned if the new school, being a smaller compound, and open space where all kids mingle with one another.. easier to spread and they have no space to confine different classes (pretty over subscribed(.. then, am I making the right decision changing to this school still???? argh!!! worrry all over again...
 
bbp
HFMD is seasonal altho each time it happens, it's just worrying...

Mich
Actually I think open spaces are better when it comes to HFMD or other virus, better ventilation? Much better than small confined air-con spaces where germs can be passed a lot faster and easily!

But HFMD is quite contagious. I caught it 2 years ago and I wasn't even in contact with anyone I know who had HFMD! It was like literally breathe in the air and kenna!

Re. homelearning stuff
Wow you ladies do so much with your kids. I'm so in awe and I'm feeling SO MEGA guilty for not doing much with my boys! Does anyone here actually have a fixed routine of what you do with your kids, or is it free and easy after school at home?
 
Mich: no, gwyn's side only 8 cases within 2 weeks. March and oct are peak periods according to the p and teachers. Gwyn's class has 2 cases but no direct contact so no new outbreak. For her center, it seems that all are contracted elsewhere- they happened over weekend and when they went to school on mon, they got sent back.
 
Michelle
Chiltern house has a few outbreak late last year. Almost half of the children in the class where the HFMD outbreak started got infected. We got emails almost every 2 days informing the outbreak. The latest were last friday, but the child is at K1. I still send her to school. The school does informed us what they did when there's an outbreak. They hired a sanitation company to sanitize everything and they told the parents that all toys are washed everyday after school ends. I do agree with everyone here that HFMD cases are quite frequent nowadays.

Agapebaby
You are not the only one feeling MEGA guilty!!!! I always bought a lot of activity books/crafts, but seldom do it together with my kids.
 
re HFMD

actually i feel that it is peak usually when school reopens after hols as well. but yes it is easy to catch even when u think u r not in contact with anyone who has it. but it also depends on immunity. so make sure the kids have good meals, good sleep and they are less likely to catch it.

i also notice that kids who tend to put their fingers in their mouths or put things in their mouth tend to catch it much easier too. and some ppl just keep getting it! i know of 3 boys who caught it a few times!
 
SD
Hi-5! Me too! You know those kind of bazaar with selling lots of kids storybooks & activity books? I always buy buy buy a lot but in the end all collecting dust at home!

SY
Yeah it's really an immunity issue. I got HFMD when I was preggie with #2, so naturally immunity was low
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The husband on the other hand doused himself with Vit C and didn't get it!
 
agapebaby
oh if you're refering to a fixed routine after playschool, me! mine is: pick poppy from school bus, home, shower, nap together. good plan, yes? :D

but seriously, if you want some ideas, i am happy to share. poppy goes to school 1130-230 so after school is mostly just nap time. we read lots in the morning and do a craft. when it goes to craft, it used to be anything and everything but now i am focusing on a letter of the alphabet a week with her so that forces me to er, focus my otherwise all-over-the-place thoughts!
 
PB, I think eboy is in love with poppy. He kept asking me to bring poppy to eboy house, full sentence!! Several times!!!

I asked 'how abt dec'? He said 'errrr... Think think think.. Yes!''

Hahaha...

When can poppy and dec come to eboy house?
 
SY
Do you have a link where I can view the books?

Agapebaby
For us it is free and easy. The boys have a playroom so they just pick what they want to play with - usually cars or trains - while I do housework and laundry. We try to go to the park every evening. Then dinner, bath, bed.
 
SY,
Good immunity = good meals + good sleep? Then I better not let Dec skip his naps anymore.

Supplements:
Girls, what supplements are you giving your kids if any?

SD, agape,
Heh heh. Me too. Especially sticker books. I go CRAZY over them and then lose track of where they are. Just remembered I bought a Chuggington one over Christmas and have no idea where it is now!
Worse, I even buy those stating 5-7 years old ones and put them in a corner for future use. Horrible right? That's why nowadays I don't dare to walk into any bookstore!

Mich,
Heehee, what did eboy say? Maybe Dec just doesn't share his enthusiasm for dinos la. Dec's a vehicle man. As he told PB, he likes cars and planes.
Hey, what happened to the housewarming us mummies self-proposed some time back? :p
 
Morning!

Squeezing time out for a facial this morning. My skin needs help! Work has been madness.

Schedule
For c1, it is full day school, we fetch him at 630pm, dinner, baby channel on mio tv, playing with duplo or geomag, and if he feels like it, he ll pick a book for me to read to him. Or I sit him in my lap and tell him stories involving wall fans, exhaust fans, propellars, ceiling fans etc.
Hmmmm that is not really a schedule....
 
Hi Mummies,

Long time no post..
very busy with work..

HFMD
Kayden school also kenna..
So i kept him away for two days since he start coughing.. must have gotten from school..
And then poor kasper will get it from him.. Now his turn to cough..

PB
You have the ocbc card?
Just go cash deposit machine and top up

BOWLING BABIES!!
1. PB - 13,14,15 March can
2. bbp - 13, 14, 15 March can
3. youpi - 15, 16 March
4. Jo - 12, 13, 14 march pm can
5. SD - 16, 17 March morning
6. SY - 12, 16 can
7. Smiggle - anyday ( i just take leave
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Supplements
The sambucus and fish oil only..
 
Bbp
I remember you asked the supplements question about a year ago hehe. Poppy takes gummy multivitamins and fish oil (scotts and barleans)

Mich
Hehe poppy is also asking to go to eboy's house. So I echo bbp's comment... Oh when oh when is your housewarming? Oh when, oh when will it be? :p

Smiggle
Oh thanks! I called ocbc and found out we can also do internet transfer through POSB/DBS. Yay can pay sch fees thru CDA!!
 


Bbp
yes i think sleep is impt. if Dec is not resistant to naps, let him nap! mine are super resistant....

mich
heehee now the ball has started...yes when is housewarming? i missed the ECP trip. want to go to your housewarming!

re supplements
they take colostrum, fish oil, multivit and JH sambucus.

smiggle
oh dear, yes better keep them away from sch! jx also started coughing so i just went to get her inhaler to standby for nights!

JSP
i saw i saw! was wondering is it a new biz by u! will check it out!

agape
my routine is much simpler nowadays cos they are in full day sch! once we get home, it will be dinner, then tv from 730 to 8. then bathe, read/do some work, read books and sleep. but of cos it doesn't go that way everyday.

for my boy, tue nights will do spelling and wed night ask him to practice his taekwondo...haha...
 
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