Migration

Dear friends and family who have been visiting this blog. As of Nov 2009, I will be using FaceBook-Notes instead of blogger to ramble about our lives.

However, there will be a new blog:" My Teacher-My Mommy". This is a blog whereby I will like to share the experiences and knowledge I've gathered from being a parent. By the grace of God, I am very blessed to have the privilege of a home ministry to raise my firstborn as a (almost) full time mother.

The blog will feature materials/equipment we use at home, books we read, activities we do, and hiccups we encoutered. Also, there will be learning materials for purchase. I've pledged 10% of the sales of materials towards our adopted charity: Children Cancer Foundation.

Visit: http://myteacher-mymommy.blogspot.com/

Have a blessed parenting journey :-)

A Gift From My Daughter

I came home one evening and my daughter put a string of beads around my neck and said the necklace was for me *touched. There were 34 beads altogether and my grandma told me that she was sitting quietly in one corner stringing the beads on her own. For the entire evening, I wasn't allowed to remove the gift from my neck :-)

Oh yes, the pictures were taken by Megan too.

Bunnies 2 + 2

Barbara, they don't get along. Let's give them a few more days, but I hope you have another family who could take the bunnies in. I am ok with fostering them till you find someone to collect the pair - they are larger in size than my pair of 2yos and all over them :-(

Busy Toddler

I thought I was busy having to take care of one child. But look at Megan with her 2 babies ! She is a very good mommy to two of her fave dolls (she has four). She would pretend to feed them, clean them, send them to school (in her coupe) sling one of them while pushing the other in her doll stroller. Sometimes she pretends she is the grandma, and I have to be their mommy :-)

Practical Skills: Preparing Food

I showed Megan how to handle a knife (I gave her a knife from a set of children's cutlery). I told her that scissors and knives will cut through things, including her fingers if she isn't careful. I let her feel the sharp ends to reiterate my point. The ground rule was that she must be at a table when she is working with a pair of scissors or a knife and chopping board.

Drawing Printing Painting

Water Activities Consolidated (Basic/Intermediate)

Montessori Preschool Practical Life – More than Pouring Water

To have a vision of the cosmic plan, in which every form of life depends on directed movements which have effects beyond their conscious aim, is to understand the child’s work and be able to guide it better. - Maria Montessori, The Absorbent Mind

To the untrained eye, the Montessori Preschool/Kindergarten (ages 3 to 6) Practical Life activities appear to be, well, child’s play. On closer examination, however, the Practical Life activities present themselves as a highly logical, sequential chain of activities that indirectly lead the child to grander things.

Take the simple task of pouring water, for example. At first glance, it comes across as ‘no big deal’. After all, the child is only pouring water. Take a closer look. Did you realize that the activities for pouring liquids come after the Montessori child has learned to transfer and pour solids? Why? There is a greater chance for error when pouring liquids. Transferring and pouring solids offers an opportunity to practice those skills first with something that is easier to clean up.

Look again. Why are there so many pouring activities on the shelf? The Montessori Practical Life activities are graduated and isolated in difficulty. When transferring water from one container to another, we begin with the largest motor skill to isolate. In this case, we begin by transferring water from one bowl to another using a sponge. The child concentrates on using whole arm and hand movements. Once that is mastered, the child moves on to pouring from one pitcher to another, one pitcher to one glass, one pitcher to three glasses. Each activity introduces a new level of difficulty.

So why all the emphasis on pouring? I thought if you knew how to pour water without spilling it, you were finished? The Practical Life activities are indirectly preparing the Montessori child for something larger. There is, so to speak, a behind-the-scenes theme happening simultaneously. First, the child is preparing for more complex works that require more steps. This builds concentration. Second, the child is now able to pour herself something to drink when she is thirsty. This builds independence. Third, the child is able to serve others something to drink without spilling. This builds coordination. Fourth, the child has learned to evaluate how much water is in the pitcher and estimate how much should be poured into each glass so that they are equal. This is developing a mathematical mind. And last, but certainly not least, the Montessori child has developed small muscle control by moving from a whole hand to a pincer-grip movement. This is an indirect preparation for holding a pencil and writing.

On the surface, pouring water is simply that, pouring water. However, dive a little deeper and you’ll find it is much more.

Source:http://montessoritraining.blogspot.com/2009/10/montessori-preschool-practical-life.html

Putting On Socks

Megan likes to do many things for herself these days. Putting on socks is one of the skills she has been practising lately. She is getting rather good at dressing and undressing herself. In the mornings, she will remove her night diaper on her own (and trash it) and take off her own trousers to get rather for her shower. The only task which remains unchecked is removing her t-shirt.

And she was so pleased with herself that she started making snow angels on the floor :-)

Other Water Activities (wringing)

Megan spilled some water and mop up with her kitchen towel (her play kitchen is probably better equipped than my real kitchen). She has recently learn how to wring a wet cloth and kept wringing her wet rag, mop it up, wring it again, mop it up again... I had to make her stop it by asking her to wring her rag at her sink (so that there will be no more wet table to mop up).

Baby No More

You know your lil one is really no longer a baby when:

1. You don't seem to need diapers or wet wipes
2. You don't need the safety gate (or in our case, Megan has figured out how to open the gate)
   
3. You don't need to undress your child
   
4. You don't need to feed her
5. You can use a booster seat and 2-point harness
6. You can trust her to feed the pets
7. You can (almost) trust her to give herself a bath
8. You are ordered to sit only on a particular chair
9. You are being entertained by song & dance (instead of you singing/dancing to a baby)
10. You are asked "Why?"
    

Sponging Water

I bought a brand new sponge some time back for this activity but never found time to do it. It's been really HOT lately and so we took the sponge to the pool for sponging water to containers. This activity makes children use those tiny muscles in the fingers and experience other forms of water transfer (besides pouring and scooping).

Sewing Machine (for Megan)

Megan takes her all her play very seriously. She has seen my grandma and aunties sewed using the old-fashion manual sewing machine at my grandma's house.

Here, she is 'sewing' with her battery-operated (with lights !) pedal sewing machine. It is quite a clever toy as there is a clear acrylic box covering the needle bit. The only flaw is that the wire connecting the machine to its step pedal is too short for it to be placed on the floor as a workable foot pedal. Megan eventually improvised and used her hand instead of her foot.

Oops!

To cut the story short, we went swimming, as always. But just once, I'd forgotten to bring a change for Megan. So we went home in a 'towel dress' (thank goodness I drove that day).

Coupon Butterfly

I was driving and Megan played with parking coupons to amuse herself. She used to enjoy poking through the circles. Now that she is older, she is more imaginative. She took 2 used coupons, interlaced them and said "妈妈，你看，butterfly".

My Forgotten Promise

I told Megan we would be catching some plays at the theatre some weeks back. We picked up the pamphlet for Boy Cry Wolf by ACT 3, and another flyer for a Korean tale about a froggy prince. long ago. She didn't seem very excited about it but we took the flyers and brought them home. She kept them around the house and yesterday, she took out the flyer and asked me when are we watching Boy Cry Wolf (the last show was 12 Sep).

GULP.

So I am booking tickets for SWIMMY, FREDERICK & INCH BY INCH.

NOW.

Art in-lieu of Ballet

I arranged to meet a friend who had flown 20hrs back to SIN for lunch so we didn't go for dance class today. When I got home, we did some painting & printing instead. Megan likes star and heart shapes and she made up songs as she did her artwork "This is my heart shape, this is my star shape, this is my yellow star, this is my yellow heart..."

Her first complete sentence in English came about as a result of her dance class whereby the teacher will get the kids to recite "This is my right toe, this is my left toe" as they did their routines.

Megan's Friends

September has kicked off well. I am enjoying a week of meeting up with friends and I thought about my daughter's social life. It is definitely more colourful than mine if I may dare say. So I thought I will write about the lil ones and do some reflection on the growing up she has gone through with some of her friends.

We finally met up with Joey and Ryan when they came back from Kolkata this time round. Ryan & Megan got along so fine during their first meeting, one would think they had been friends for the longest time. Ryan will be 3yo in Nov and he is very affectionate and sociable. It was so much fun having seeing the 2 kids enjoy themselves - we will sure miss Joey and Ryan when they return to India :-(

This is Zachary Ong (aka 旺旺） who is 5mths Megan's junior . He is Megan's most frequently visited friend. The friendship started off a little shaky (or should I say bitey?)

A few months down the road and many delicious meals cooked by 旺妈 (aka Irene), we see the friendship blosoms into something more conventionally acceptable ...

Megan met Baby Reika when EJ invited us over for a swim. Reika is absolutely adorable and very 'portable'. Mommy Kyoko could carrier baby in her carrier and finish her meal ! Megan is always asking when are we going to see Reika. I still can't quite figure out how she could remember Reika so well but I suspect its because she saw the mommy nursing her once.

These are some of the girls at my grandma's estate that will come around and play with Megan from time to time. She loves the pair of twins (Trenyc & Trista are seated right of photo). This is taken outside the hair salon run by the twins' grandparents at the neighbourhood. The girls' kakak is very kind to Megan too :-)

A New Apron & Cookie Time

I have been trying to drop Megan at my Aunty's place at AMK on Saturdays. It worked well last week and I thought we should keep it going :) So today, we went and Megan had requested to bake cookies cos when we were there last week, 臭臭-姨 wasn't ready for baking.

On our way to AMK, Megan decided to do a checklist and asked me:

"有没有带我的衣服" (did you pack my clothing)
"有没有带臭臭被" (did you pack my smelly-blankie)
"有没有带M&Ms" (did you bring the M&Ms)

It is as if Megan knows me very well, I forgotten one of the above - the M&Ms. She comforted me and said its alright, she will go with 姨 to buy M&Ms from the shops.

I reminded Megan that I have packed her knickers and she must tell someone she needs to pee when she needs to go (we are almost diaper free!). She gave me a really serious look and told me "这个 lao-goh 家没有 potty 的“ (there is no potty in this grandaunty's house)

And yes, the apron she has on is lovingly hand-made by my very own 姑姑！

What I Feed My Child (when I do)

Most of the people who know me well enough knows about my cooking masterplan. It is not that I hate cooking per se, but to cook for a toddler (only for her to reject the nourishing meal you whipped up) is really not all that exciting. But I have plans and boy, did I cook for all the Thursdays in August !

First, it was out to get the condiments and staples (we didn't have any at home, unless instant noodles can be considered a staple in a household). Then to spruce up the food, I went DIASO and got the cute barang-barang. After which, I had to look for my stashed away rice cooker, pots, pans etc.

Now that August is coming to an end. I am secretly happy - cos the plan was to cook for August only. But I do think I am getting better. My rice is no longer soggy, thanks to tips from Irene (even Megan complained that I cooked 'porridge' when it was meant to be steamed rice).

Perhaps I should persevere and continue cooking every Thursday ... perhaps.

Belated National Day Wishes

The park rangers (or what shall we call those people who man the counter at the park?) gave Megan a selection of paper hearts for her to pick a colour and pen her wishes for Singapore's 44th birthday. I told them she is erm, too young at 2 to answer the quizz or write anything legible for that matter. They said its ok and gave her the worksheet and the heart and crayons. She had fun scribbbling on the worksheet, pretending she had 'homework' to do. Then the nice 姐姐 showed her where to pin up her wishes for Singapore. I think it will be another 2 more years before she can understand National Day. We shall wait and see :)

Jacob Ballas Fountains-16 Aug 09

I witnessed Megan's bargaining/negotiation skills for the first time. It was a very hot Sunday afternoon so I didn't join her at the fountains. Came along 2 children, probably 2yo and 5yo. The older kid had 2 watering cans with her. A smaller toy, and a real one which is much more handy.

Megan wanted to play with those and the kid's helper convinced the girl to let her have the smaller watering can. Megan wasn't quite keen in the 'toy' and went to the girl, gave her the smaller watering can and asked for the bigger one. The girl refused. Megan tried to "persuade" her by telling her “很好玩的，这个给你“. That didn't work. So she ran off to the helper, and manja the helper and asked the kakak for help.

I must say I am glad she didn't snatch what she wanted, but I am not so sure if I should be worried about her 'negotiation skills'.

Lunch At Jacob Ballas-16 Aug 09

Ham & Cheese sandwich cost $6.90 -gulp. But she was hungry after all the running at the fountains and I wasn't prepared for makan. And the sandwich came with crisps! Imagine how happy Megan was to see "keropok"...

Playing With Papa

They say a picture = 1000 words.

Noah's Animals Have No Umbrellas

I long forgotten about our Noah's Ark puzzle toy. So while tidying up the cabinets (in an attempt to free up storage space), I found this toy and took it out to play with Megan. I told her the story of Noah's Ark once but it was some time back and she was probably too young to follow. This time round, she seems to be more aware of what it means when it rains, what it means to "protect" and keep the animals "safe".

As we completed our task in bringing the animals onto the ark, Megan asked me a million-dollar question, to which I was so stunned I'd no answers for her "为什么它们没有雨伞" (Why don't the animals have umbrellas?)

I would love suggestions for a suitable answer I could give my toddler :-)

I Want To Be Mama

Megan knows I am working when I am on my laptop but she has a bag of tricks to make me go away from my computer and be with her. She has quietly observed me and discovered which button to press to off the machine-so when she gets really desperate, she SWITCHES OFF the computer when I take a moment away from it. And she will get scolded for this. Now, she understands that she cannot touch my computer without my permission, or SWITCH IT OFF on my behalf. Instead, she will whine, cajole, and amuse me with all her entics to distract me from the computer :) One of her tricks is "I also want to be mama, let me show you how"

I'll Do It Myself

We have entered the 'I-Wanna-Do-It-Myself' stage:

• Megan puts on her own knickers
• Megan puts on her own pull-up pants
• Megan changes out of her clothing, and
• Megan puts on her own leotard and skirt
  

Making Dumplings

It was my grandfather's birthday celebration last Sunday. My aunty was making 云吞 and I thought Megan should help out as well. Basically, my philosophy in parenting this kiddo is to let her try as many real, daily life activities as we could possibly 'tolerate'. Mess is never a concern as my helper is understanding and very tolerant of our activities :P

Playdoh Cake

Megan made these tiny cakes at my aunty's place. I like to think one day, she will be baking me a real cake for Mother's Day.

Amen !

Megan has been revisiting a lot of her toys she used to play with and doing very different things with them. I took out her DUPLO bricks some time back and instead of building structures that goes vertically up, its now all very planar and flat - I don't know the reason behind it, but she seems to have it all in her head. First, it was a BEDROOM with beds for her toy animals/figures. Another creation is a cross. The proportions were rather good I think and she told me it was "Amen". I do think it is well made and thank you God for my wonderful daughter :)

Playing Together

I believe that young children learn the fastest by observing an older child. I saw that in Megan a couple of times when she played with the neighbour's 4yo twins (whose grandpa unfortunately doesn't like to have us over for I-dunno-what-reasons. We have good neighbourly relations with them for over decades really).

This is Megan showing WW how she plays with her beans, and WW keenly looking, mimicking Megan's actions! After WW got a hang of scooping, they played together for a bit, and agreed to my request for them to 'collaborate' . Megan held on to the green bucket while WW scooped beans into it - beautiful isn't it ?!

TV time at Wang-Wang's

Megan will go to WW's place to watch "Wheels On The Bus" whenever we are there. And dear WW has grown quite used to Megan's presence at his place. The two children can now sit next to each other, with no brawls or any other 'accidents' for quite a considerable amount of time. They have also invented a new "swoop mama" game and get a good kick out of teasing their mommies :)

Art Class

Lyndon dropped Megan at my class last Friday for the last 30 mins. She was thoroughly enjoying herself although its way past her nap time and I was worried she could be cranky any minute. I was glad that she had fun and was even humming and singing as she painted alongside the other children !

She was in my class for the entire month of June as we had a more favourable timing as it was the school holidays. Perhaps I should consider this as a weekly activity and tweak the timing a little to accommodate Megan. She was so focused on her brushwork that she made a hole on the paper (too much paint on one spot).

Dinner with Grandparents

We have not seen her grandparents for ages (and I mean moons). So after receiving a text message from my MIL, I thought we should meet up for dinner. My inlaws came to fetch us on Thursday evening and we went to VIVO for dinner. We had promised her we will eat at MARCHE (the yeye asked her where she wanted to eat, and she told him MARCHE, and he agreed).

But when we got there, the Q was snaking out of the restaurant and I think my inlaws' tummies couldn't wait. So we had to go to SUSHI TEI instead. That upsetted her greatly cos we had agreed on MARCHE (and they asked for her opinion before we stepped out of the house - big mistake, they didn't know my daughter CAN REMEMBER and does have a very strong mind of her own).

After lots of whinning, threats of tears, and coaxing from the clueless grandparents and a tired mom, we did go to SUSHI TEI for our dinner, and FINISHED our food. Dinner was pleasant enough but Megan remembered I said we could go MARCHE after we FINISHED our food at SUSHI TEI. So she asked. My inlaws were too tired for dessert and my hubby looked like he would kill someone if we didn't make our way home soon. We compromised and went into TOYS'R US.

I am glad to add that Megan isn't the sort who must leave a store with a new toy (I was really worried about it cos she did reveal a 'shoppaholic streak'). I allowed the grandpa to get her one playdoh tool cos I thought it will help her remember him better (we really meet up once every solar eclipse). She was polite and agreeable with the grandma this time round cos she came with a Barney bacpack. Well, bribery some say, but building positive associations & good relationships with grandparents (esp those that you seldom see) are more important than some other things.

Sharing Toys

I read somewhere that children must be 'trained' to give and share with others . Perhaps a toddler is a little too young to fully grasp the concept of sharing and giving but I thought such actual actions of passing an item you own to someone could be made fun and a good habit to cultivate.

The parenting tip from some parenting magazine wrote that if you give your chil、 more than her allocated share (items/pocket money/treats) and explain to her that she now has more than enough to share it out with another person, she will be more receptive to "sharing" (logic :you are not taking something away from her and leaving her with nothing). I thought that was totally logical. I mean, we won't be donating to any charity if we don't have enough for ourselves right? So why force a child to share her ONLY teddy bear with a friend just to display 'manners' for parents' vanity's sake? Likewise, I don't see why a child should be reprimanded if he/she doesn't want to share his stuff with Megan. I think I end up explaining to parents more often than I have to explain to Megan that it is OK not to share (at least for a 2yo).

I do think this can be refined at a later stage to teach Megan true, selfless sharing and giving but she is 2. We can wait.

For now, I think Megan understands the concept of sharing (BJ has a song "It's good to share, you show you care, it's good to share, you show you care with a friend" - that helps a little in reinforcing the concept).

We were getting ready to meet her friends at IKEA and I was trying to get her excited about going cos she had swimming on her mind instead (but we HAD to go IKEA cos I had a meeting lined up as well). So I told Megan she could bring her "burgers" along to the kitchen playset.

Megan: 我不要，等一下 wang-wang 会抢 (I don't want to, later wang-wang will snatch)
Mama: 。。。
Megan: (suddenly realises she has a brilliant solution and added before I could respond) eh, 有三个 ham & cheese，好，带去 (eh, I have 'three' ham & cheese, ok, I'll bring)

(Megan calls her burger toy ham & cheese sandwich)

Mama: 好！等一下你可以 share (Great! You can share these later)
Megan: 好! 这个给wang-wang

No sure if Megan really knows who is wang-wang (she calls another boy wang-wang too, but I think she does recognise wang-wang cos we meet up quite a bit). She loves to talk about wang-wang snatching things, but she loves to bring her stuff for him as well! Every new toy she has, it will be "eh, Megan 有三个, 可以给 wang-wang" (eh, Megan has 3, can give wang-wang 1). She loves wang-wang, but she loves to whine about him as well. LOL.

Disclaimer: Megan cannot count, she will say "三个,三块,三毛" everything is "THREE" to her if its more than ONE.

Look (and wait) for Mama

I was reading someone's blog on how she trained her children and I recalled 2 separate incidents which I really should blog for posterity. Not very lucid at almost 5am in the morning, but well, I must write it down now (prepare for a lengthy piece).

Today, we went to Forum with Megan's Monday-playgroup. The 2 other boys fell asleep shortly after lunch and were parked in their strollers, leaving the moms to have their cuppa and 1 free helper to look after Megan. Irene's helper has just started working for her family not too long (probably 2 weeks) and Megan doesn't mind this new ka-kak (she takes very well to new faces, and seems to understand that ka-kak's job is to babysit her while the mommies drink coffee).

Aunty Irene very kindly 'loaned' her helper to Megan and there was an adult to watch her and amuse her while the other adults TALK. Megan doesn't get excited when I meet up with my friends cos what we do is drink and talk, and talk and talk, but the talk doesn't involve her. Nor does she understand or appreciate our conversation topics. But I must give her credit-she has grown from "妈妈，不要讲话“ to tolerating our lengthy chats a little more (now she will 'permit' mama to talk for a good 30min-1hr before she decided that I should turn my attention bac.k to her).

Ok, back to my story: mommies talking, Irene's helper took Megan out of Spinelli's for a walk,. or more accurately, was told to follow my little one who was wandering in and out of the cafe (frequently popping into DKNY). I kept a lookout for them to make sure they are in our sight cos I am not sure of the new helper. Just when I thought I could trust the maid with Megan (got her to help with changing a wet diaper and she 'passed' the test), Megan came running back to us and told me "每每自己回来，ka-kak 没有带我" (or was it "ka-kak 没有回来“） But you get the drift.

I asked Megan "ka-kak 在那里“, she replied "ka-kak去toilet". We (Irene and I) looked out of the cafe for maid, and true enough, no maid in sight. I think Irene was probably more worried than me and stepped out to look for her helper. Maid was just coming out of the ladies when Irene walked out to search for missing maid. I saw from my seat in the cafe, a frantic looking maid, trying to look for my daughter. Strangely, I wasn't mad. Infact, I was quietly pleased that Megan had acquired good spatial intelligence which I had always wanted her to, and could find her way back to the cafe (in a new mall on top of all!) I was also very comforted she understood and knew that I MUST be the point of reference and she must always look for mama and go back to mama.

Learning Points:

• Teach your child to know where you will be (in any environment outside home) and train her to constantly look for mama. We play a game of Q&A: I will call out "Megan, where are you" (or in chinese) and Megan has to answer in a shout of "Yeah" or "Em" or "Megan". This has served us well when she refuses to be in the same cubicle as me in the public toilet (she said its too stinky).
• Tell yourself not to place 100% trust any other form of help (even your own helper-this 'amendment' has been cleared, as proposed by the DAD, another story on helper and circle of trust in a separate entry) You must be the main point of reference and the main caregiver wherever possible. Remember that they wont feel your anxiety as a parent. Should anything happens, its at most guilt which will hit the assigned helper. Not very helpful right?
  

When I related this story to my husband, he almost flipped and told me off "How can you trust her with someone'e maid, I told you before right? bla-blah" He totally missed my point of trying to illustrate how capable Megan is at navigating her own way back, albeit the cafe and toilet is a couple of metres apart, approx 2 shop units' lenght.

Then again, on hindsight, a couple of metres could have been something like 20m+ ? And husband probably did have a valid concern as Megan is only 2yo and most toddlers her age would still be strapped in their strollers instead of roaming around in the malls by themselves. Which I won't want to forbid so long as we keep her in our line of vision. I kinda want her to know that she could likely get lost if she isn't gonna check on us from time to time and let her develop a better spatial understanding of her environment. Perhaps one day she will really get lost (or should I say I lose sight of her) and then perhaps thats another lesson learnt? Cruel you think ? I dunno really, but that brings me to part 2 of this entry.

Megan gets all excited when we leave the house, esp when she knows we are heading somewhere (instead of the usual daily trip to my grandma's place). I have taught her to put on her shoes and get her bag (should she feel like bringing one) before we leave the house. I have also taught her that we need to wait at the lift lobby for the lift to come, and you need to press the button to call for the lift. She can reach for the lift buttons and I get her to "help mama" to call for the lift. I forgotten to add that she MUST NOT ENTER the lift without me or the father.

Here goes: All 3 of us were going out, I think we promised her the playground at the next block and it was probably a Sunday as the dad was free. Lyndon was trying to get all the bags and lock up while I stepped out of the house with Megan (which is the routine: mama takes care of M, papa locks up and take our bags). Then I suddenly remembered I forgotten something (which I cant recall to save my life what was so important then). So I went back into the house to grab what I wanted and Lyndon was still trying to fiddle with his bags and waiting for me to get out so that he could lock up. All this while, we left Megan at the lift landing, waiting for us. Which none of us thought was UNSAFE. Till ...

I stepped out, called for Megan, and saw that she was entering a lift, ALL ON HER OWN ! By the time I ran to the lift, the doors SHUT and next few seconds/minutes were filled with the most heart-wrenching cries you could imagine "妈妈!!!!!" And I could hear it as the lift was descending. My head was empty- I could only think "ok, please god, no one call for lift on other floors, else I wont know which storey she may end up should the doors open". Then it was "run mama, run" And I ran as fast as my legs could carry me to level 1, hearing her cries as I ran down each floor. I was thinking that at least I could hold her in my arms when the doors opened at level 1, revealing a frightened child.

If Lyndon ever reads this blog, I will like to give him a BIG hug and say "Thanks You Daddy!" for THINKING. Instead of running down to level 1 like a stupid me, he stayed on our floor and called for the lift (and at least one of us was thinking enough to stay put for Megan should the doors open at our floor and she can't see either parents. I really thought he would have ran down as fast as I did with me). So you guessed it, when I was at level 1, no lift, no Megan, the lift has gone back up. So I went up again (I took the other lift though, no way I was gonna beat the lift at climbing 9 storeys). Daddy was carrying Megan, all tears, totally terrified and upset. I took over and apologised profusely and hugged her really tight. I was almost in tears you know, but I knew I had to be strong cos I had to explain all this to her after she calmed down (so no time for mommy-tears or fears).

I told her we would be going off to the playground now and everything is alright cos papa and mama are both with her. She stopped shortly (it didn't take too long for her to calm down, thank god!). Then while we were waiting for the lift, we told her that she could press for the lift as always, but she MUST NOT enter the lift without either of us. And to make our point really CLEAR, we modified it to "你要等妈妈才可以进去 OK?" (you must wait for mama before you enter the lift ok?) And we practised a little. I stepped into the lift first, then we told her she could go in.

For some days after this one episode of lift-scare, I realised that she would wait at the landing but will not press the lift button. It took Megan a while before she would call for the lifts again. But she has learnt well since then. Now, she will shout for me if the lift is here and I am still fiddling with the door and our bags and tell me "妈妈快点,电梯要走了,快点 !" She gets a little upset if I cannot get ready in time for the lift she has called for, but I explained to her that it will come again if we call for it once more. It took several practices, and she is now ok with missing the lift she has called for.

Learning Points:

• I am getting a little tired to really pen something readable. But what I am trying to say is TEACH lifeskills. I am recalling a mom I met recently who asked about what I teach my toddler. I say all sorts of practical skills (she is a glen doman, shichida mommy). She asked me what's Montessori when I told her my activities are 'Montessori-inspired', and shared a story about a friend of hers who had enrolled the child in an expensive montessori school, only to pull the child out after scolding the teacher/school for teaching her kid how to sweep the floor. I teach Megan how to sweep, mop, throw trash into bins, cut paper, water our plants, change the rabbits' litter, feed them, serve people drinks. And call for lifts :)
  

Folding Comes Naturally

We were at our almost-weekly visits to my aunt's place and Megan decided that she wants some cloth to play with (I gave her fabric swatches to play with at home to introduce textiles and textures). Grand-aunty showed Megan where she kept her pillowcases and cushion covers and she took out a whole lot of these and started to fold. I was very pleased with her efforts on the tasks she has assigned herself.

After she had enough of folding practice, she took a pillowcase and it became a BIG duffle bag for her to keep more pillowcases. She slung it over her shoulder and lug it around the house, trying to coax everyone to sit down for a haircut, pretending other pillowcases were the hairdresser's cover.

Colours !

Yippee ! The $2.50 for clothes pegs was worth every cent ! While I was busy in the kitchen again, I told Megan to go play on her own. When I stepped out, I saw that she was 'playing' with her colour pegs and the plastic bowls. She realised I have added more bowls to her utensil rack.

Megan seemed to be trying to match the colours of the pegs to the bowls. She had pegged 2 blue clothes peg onto the blue bowl (with 1 mismatch red peg) and pegged one of each colour onto the bowls (except yellow). I was really amazed and quickly look for another yellow bowl in the kitchen after I realised that the yellow pegs were untouched (probably cos she cannot find a 'matching' bowl?) .

Back to the kitchen and yeeks, no yellow bowl but thank goodness there was a yellow cup. So I gave her the cup and asked her where are the pegs of the same colour. She showed me one peg to check with me and I said: " 对了! 这是黄色 ! " (That's right, its yellow)

She gave me a big smile :)

So Megan matched all of the pegs (I did have to help by assuring her the "reddish-orange" bowl is the same colour-tone as her bright crimson pegs) . I prompted her to do some 'tonging' and wanted to see if she could really do colour matching. All the pompoms went into the correct bowls but she was really concerned that the bowl couldn't take all of the big green ones.

We have five pingpong balls and she asked me where they should go. I assume she asked cos she realised they are white and there are no white bowls on the table. I told her she could put them in any bowl she likes, and she chose the blue one. Megan HAD to make sure all five are laid out side by side in the bowl - then she said "Hey, 圆圈 !" (Hey, its a circle)

Then, she went to her playhouse and showed me more yellow pompoms! She had hidden some in her teaparty sugar bowl! LOL ! She tried to stuff all of it into her yellow cup and I had to tell her its ok, they will fit.

Maybe Megan is worried about her privacy, she absolutely hates it when I try to take pictures of her activities (so I usually have to be really quick, or sneak behind her to shoot. Its amazing what she does at home when I am "busy in the kitchen".

Puzzle Corner

Shapes tray which she played with when she was 18mth, and now revisiting it ocassionally. 9-pc, 16-pc puzzles (with Barney no less, and we got Dora and a 60-pc Mickey 2 days back). And Montessori cylinders (a beautiful gift from a high school friend for Megan's 2nd).

Homeschool Setup.v1

A very basic setup whereby I organised her toys into stackable trays (previously used for storing my grandparents' medication, but their prescription grew, so these are no longer useful to them). I also included some of her plastic cups, plates, bowls and cooking utensils in the topmost rack. See the black tongs ? I used it for my spaghetti but now its her favourite tool.

Then we included more items which were more targeted to her learning/development

Homeschooling isn't neccessary costly. Cost of the above items:

• Pompoms (small) $2.00
• Pompoms (big) $2.00
• White tray (3-sections) $2.00
• Transparent tray (4-sections), $2.00
• Orange ikea bowl (from our kitchen)
• Plastic clothes pegs $2.50 (should have used our existing ones, but I couldn't resist the beautiful colours - so my excuse is we will use them to learn about colours later on)

Toys 'recycled' for Homeschool

I was very inspired by many montessori mommies out there who have made their homes so conducive and inviting for their children to do independent learning. I started with whatever toys we already have, sorted them out, and 'displayed' them on our dinning bench (the humongous dinning table removed to another spot and is now my working desk instead). The idea was for all the toys to be within her reach and she could pack away her toys when she is done with her play.

These are some of our earlier toys (purchsed without intention of homeschool)

A tea party set with tray (trays are vital in our setup now)

Velcro'ed vegetables for cutting, with play pretend knife and chopping board

Wooden basket (very solid and so well made I could take it to the market too)

After my effort to sort out her toys, I realised how I could have been a more penny-wise mom and shop more prudently. But well, I did score with some of her toys. And now, I am certainly not gonna be easily lured by those mega toy stores (as easily I should add - sales are sometimes hard to resist).

What Have We Done ?

A quick update on our progress at 'Homeschool-Depot'

*** Megan loves her 'tonging' activities ***


*** Megan went from' tonging' to 'pegging' ***

*** Megan completed her 9-pc, then 16-pc puzzle ***

*** Megan tried 1-to-1 correspondence ***