Project Fish (1)

1. Buy some hardy tropical fishes -at least 2, we all need friends
   Buy aquatic plants - teach the child that plants give out oxygen, and plants are pretty too. Also select hardy varieties such as java fern)
   Place the bag of fish in a bucket of water- leave water to de-chlorinate overnight
2. Place gravel in 2 different bowls (I had some bigger pebbles and some fine gravel, so I will teach Megan about sizes and textures)
3. Prepare tank (plastic preferred, lighting will make your tank appear prettier & aerate with pump/filter to minimise cleaning)
   Get a plastic cup for filling tank with water if you allow your child to pour
   Also get ready lots of rags for spills
   

Tips:

• Prepare everything beforehand and do most of the task yourself, leaving some bits for the child to participate and complete (take cue from cooking shows, nothing can be done in 10 mins like those celeb chefs claim-they have the entire tv crew to help chop, julienne, slice their veggies)
• Laying out the items will help you create a mental picture of the steps you will need to take to set up the aquarium (toddlers have little patience, esp with new adventures)
  
• Have rags or tea-towels around to help with the inevitable spills (I intend to allow Megan to help with filling up the tank)

Things You Can Do with Kacang

I think these are groundnuts. Megan is always given different food to play with at my grandma's place (in my home, there is hardly real food as we don't cook). And we encourage her playing with real stuff as long as it is safe and not too much of a mess (then again, with a domestic helper, I am rather tolerant of 'mess' I must add). However cursory it may be, I do get Megan to clean up after she is done with her activities (she has her own broom set).

And so we played with kacang:

1. Aim a nut at the bucket
2. Throw them all over the floor (she probably enjoyed this most)
   
3. Sweep (my helper was ropped in to share the 'fun')
   

June's Project

Today we went to meet Clarence at an aquarium shop at Clementi Ave 2. It is the same shop I used to frequent when I had a fish-hobby years back. My first fish was a gurami named Molly. It had a long life and I can still remember how my grandma nursed it back to health on the several occasions it was ill. After Molly, no guramis appeared as pretty as her and we (grandma & I) kept guppies instead. The guppies did very well in the tank we had and bred happily.

On the way to Clementi, I told Megan we were going to a 'fish shop' and she could hold the bag of fish Clarence bought when he is done with his purchase. She wasn't exactly keen in the fishes at the shop but she was waiting patiently at the shop keeper to give her a bag of fish (he was packing feeder fishes into many small bags). It was only meant to be a visit to the shop to see how fishes as kept and sold, but we ended up buying 2 tetras and 1 aquatic plant (it's a java fern) for Megan. I made sure the shop keeper told her how to care for the fishes. He was very cooperative and told her several times not to overfeed the fishes.

With 2 tetras, some fern, some gravel, a 2-ft tank which I used to place in my office, yours truly is gonna embark on "Project-Fish" for June and teach Megan lots of new things!

First Time at the Beach!

We had been wanting to take her to the beach to experience the sand and the sea. But both myself and my husband are not the beach-going, sun-tanning sort, so this trip to the beach has been much delayed.

And of cos there is the auspicious hour whereby the father is free and the weather is kind. 24 May 2009 was indeed a very favourable date for an outing to the beach. We had some wind, rather gentle sunshine, and a parent who happens to be free and agreeable to go the beach with a toddler (and plenty of toys).

I can never quite rely on Lyndon to take pictures of Megan or us (although he did take charge of the video cam from time to time and took some videos of Megan). So its always me and my 5.0MP camera phone who will record those precious kodak moments (and I must add I am really hankering after the Panasonic TS1 after I saw Han's camera).

It took some coaxing before Megan was willing to take off her shoes and allow her feet to touch the sand. After she warmed up to the feel of the warm and wet sand under her feet, she was more willing to explore the beach. Very soon, she was digging and digging and forgotten her initial reluctance to touch sand. Infact, shortly after, she wanted to go into the waters and we all got very wet :) She seems to realise that the bouyancy of the sea is different from that of chlorinated waters of the pool and wanted to float more than she did in the pool. And of cos, she had a taste of the salty water and asked me 'bu-ke-yi-chi?' (cannot be eaten?)

Oh yes, it helped that we saw other children and a dog playing at the beach. Cos that was exactly what I had told her on our way to Sentosa to prep her for the beach outing. I discovered that prepping her with what to expect for each trip/outing (esp new experiences) always ease her into the new actitivities with minimal fussing. It is a lot of effort to paint her a picture of what to expect but she will listen intently and ask simple 'you? mei-you?' (have? don't have?) questions.

My toddler is tough work. But I am enjoying it :)

My Learning Points (Part 1)

My Learning Points:

• Adults must keep their conversation, esp if topic is sensitive away from children. You really don't know how much they understand. Take cue from the bible too - thou shall not gossip !
  
• Speak properly at all times (if possible, do not speak in 2 languages at 1 time- this seems to be the reason my child's speech is delayed)
• Ignore bad behaviour. Sometimes, its better to ignore undesirable behaviour. I said "undesirable" not "bad". Ignoring certain irritating acts of misbehaviour from a child can dampen his interest in repeating the act. Giving him too much attention by telling him it's no good, dont you ever do it, mommy doesn't like it, a good boy doesn't do this etc. may encourage the frequency of the particular misbehaviour (they probably get a kick out of seeing a scowl on our faces).
• Do not underestimate your child's ability. Just keep remembering he is an individual and don't compare with another kid-I know that can be a tall order as I panicked a little when Megan wasn't ready to talk at 18mth. Get your spouse to remind you, and surround yourself with mature parents who will provide support.
• Respect your child (I had been guilty of critising my daughter's habits with family and friends, only to discover that she understood what I said and was embarrassed). Now, I try very hard not to do the diaper-talk if she is around. She seems more grown up lately, and I am learning to respect her as a person too.
• Enjoy your child. Remember quality over quantity. If you can spend 10mins reading, playing the dump truck, or rolling out play-doh cookies with your toddler, I bet you its more enriching and fufiling than 1 hour of TV for both parent and child.

Listening Comprehension

Subject: Listening Comprehension
Grades: Distinction
Remarks: Remember never to use undesirable language (esp. 'walau')

We were aware that Megan could understand us very well way before she could speak. But what is shocking is her level of comprehension and her interest in the adults' conversation. Let me list a few instances:

Scenario 1:
We deposited Megan at my aunty's place on Saturday and after a very successful afternoon of games and nap, they took her to the mall. When my husband and I went to the mall to meet up with them, my aunty began excitedly to narrate an incident which happened just before we arrived at the mall. She was very proud of the fact that Megan knew the danger of being on a higher level and could grasp the concept of heights, fear, transparency all rolled into 1 episode. It goes like this: Megan was on level 2 of the mall and some toys/display on the lower level caught her attention. You know how malls have walkways lined with clear glass panels right? Megan seems to have realised that she was on higher grounds and could fall if she wasn't carefull. So, she inched forward and stretched out her hands till she could touch the glass panel. After she could feel the glass, and concluded that there is a 'barrier' and she is safe, she plastered her face onto the glass and started telling everyone the stuff down there is "cute-cute". Back to the proud grand-aunty- so my aunty narrated this to us, and she listened in as she was eating her yogurt and gave a sheepish grin as I tried to praise her for her realisation of heights & her concern with her own safety. I thought that was a rather complicated story, but she understoond (and eavesdropped on us).

Scenario 2:
The children met up at Mommy-Elaine's place today. Mommy-Irene was sharing with us how her MIL praised her hubby to the skies for his singing talent at a young age (agenda was to compare son and grandson). Again, Megan was playing and listening in. She came to me and asked me if Wang-Wang's papa could sing! She knows Irene is Wang-Wang's mom, and she knew we were talking about someone else. And she found the conversation funny.

Scenario 3:
My husband isn't exactly a friendly driver. Nor is he kind and patient on the road. So if motorists are a little slack at keeping to their lanes, he will not hesistate to comment - and more than not, it is spiced with a "Wa-lau". Megan finds that word very "interesting" and likes the sound of it aLOT. If that word is ever muttered, she will repeat it for as many times as she could. I counter this by ignoring her instead of correcting her language and telling her "wa-lau" is wrong and she can't say it. It works.

Drinking Water Made Fun

The weather has been unbearably hot to say the least. To coax Megan to drink water more often, I get her to drink out of pretty wine glasses made of plastic (she calls them the 'yum-seng bei'). And to make it fun, I asked the twins next door (at my grandma's place) to join our little water party. It works every time I want her to drink more water than she is willing to.

The Last Party (really)

Ok, this was really the LAST celebration (and the celebration was also for my cousin's 19th bday, so we really did have a good excuse to celebrate, again) .

Saturday's Party (4)

On 18-May, we went to my husband's aunty's place for a family gathering to celebrate Megan's 2nd (yes, erm, the 2nd celebration in the same day). To the left of the picture is Megan's uncle (my husband's 12yo cousin). Her youngest uncle to date is actually my uncle's son who is under 1yo !!!

Saturday's Party (3)

The children had a go at cutting and decorating their own cookies. We gave each child one cookie they made to take home at the end of the day. This cookie dough was provided by mei-mei and it was very delicious - much better than the sugar cookie recipe I first tried.

You see Megan wearing her tired-homey tee cos she dirtied her red top and I had to change her out of it (and realised we didn't bring home much clothing from ahma's house except for her pjs- gulp). I was nagged for dressing her like this for her party after my family saw these pictures.