Play-doh (backlogging)

I really have a pathetic memory after childbirth, and it does not seem to have improved for the past 2 years. I took these really cute pictures of Megan's play-doh sessions and wanted to blog about how much fun we both had with cutting out tortoises and giving them eyes. It was one of those many play-doh sessions but I was armed with my camera this time (albeit my simple mobile phone cam). I make it a point not to use my mobile or text when I am doing things with Megan. She does not like it a lot when I am not focused in my task as well.

So we treated ourselves to some fresh 'white doh' on a Sunday some months back. And I gave her a new shape cutter to play with (she has been given too many play-doh stuff and I ration what she gets to play with). I was glad that she could tell it was a 'wu-gui' (tortoise) and remembered she had seen them at her Uncle Justin's place. I mindlessly made some little spheres and asked her to try putting the eyes on for the tortoise - and she did ! I was very excited about it and I think she felt accomplished giving her tortoise eyes (she gave the tortoise TWO eyes altho it was a shape of the animal's profile). I then made some strips and asked her to give it a tail (wanted to see if she could recall tortoises having tails, and if she knew where tails should go). And BINGO ! We have tortoises with eyes and tails!

After cutting out many tortoises, she got a little tired and asked me to shape her some letters "G-A-P" are her fave letters (not that she can really recognise them, she simply likes to read these 3 letters out loud). She used to be able to recognise "B-E-G" when she was younger and I was at one point, very keen in getting her to recognise the alphabet cos I was told by PEOPLE "she needs to learn lah, don't just play with her all day". This "don't just play all day" deserves another entry, so I shall not get myself started here.

Then we had to line up cookies she cut- she was quite taken by the concept of lining up for a period.

I should have taken a picture of myself too - I was immensely satisfied with this activity.

More Dance Pictures

Megan's First Dance Class

I took her to try out dance classes at a studio near our place. They only take in toddlers from 2-half onwards, but they agreed to let Megan try at 2yo. She was the youngest child in class. I put on a pink skirt for her as we were not kitted for ballet and we borrowed shoes from the studio. It was a mini struggle to get her to put her shoes on. I was told the snug fit was a strange feeling for toddlers.

Miss Jeanette (dance teacher) had a class of 6 that day, but 2 girls were throwing temper tantrums, wailing and reluctant to join in the class most of the time. Megan was mostly good, but she did have difficulty following the instructions as the class was conducted in English (we are on our 'speak mandarin' efforts at home).

I wanted to step in and guide her along cos I knew that she didn't quite understand all that was said in class, but I was rather surprised when she didn't want me in the studio at all! She insisted that I should stay by the door and REMAIN there... LOL

Miss Jeanette got the class marching, skipping, jumping, clapping and wriggling. When the class was over, all the children had to line up to do a little curtsy before they were dismissed. The kids were give 2 smiley face stickers each when they accomplished this last task. Megan didn't want to line up, and she wanted the ENTIRE sheet of smiley faces (we have the same stickers at home and she was allowed to use as much as she wants for her art). Miss Jeanette was firm and put her back in line and made sure she didn't get hold of the entire sheet and gave only 2 smileys. I was feeling a tiny weeny squirmish about Megan being 'disciplined', but I knew that she needed that from another adult.

We (Megan & I) agreed that dance was fun and will attend weekly classes from now on. We got her a pink leotard today and will DIY a little purple (barney-colour) skirt for her dance class this weekend :)

Megan's Aquarium

Let me show you how it's done ...

Looking At My Fish

After a night of hard work (mommy of cos), Megan finally got to set up her own aquarium. She was rather thrilled (albeit less excited than I had imagined, esp after the many hours of preparation I had to undertake). I placed the tank in the hall on the low cabinets so that she can stand up on a stool to feed the fishes (with supervision) and yet not get too near to them. But Megan has been good. She does not put her hands in the tank, nor overfeed the fishes (like I'd imagined all children will).

We both had fun. And I think it has been going well for us and the fishes this far - week 2 and the fishes are surviving ! I should post the pictures of Megan setting up the tank as well.

Decluttering Schedule

A homeschooling SAHM just told me that she spent 2 YEARS to tidy up her home to prepare for her daughters' home-school. Now I feel a little more comforted that my decluttering project seems to take forever. And it has gotten me a little more inspired to set myself a deadline for the apartment to be ready for Megan to use it for her activities (and I really have to deposit her at my grandma's place less often).

Now that I have gotten the HUGE useless dinning table out of the way (at least its tucked right at the back of our so-called hall), I need to pack and reorganise whatever that is left in the 'main hall'. The piano is a pain, I could do with that corner for more shelving options - but then again, its nice to tinker with Megan once in a while. So I guess I have to try and use the piano more often to make its presence worth its every sq. ft.

Then there is the TV-room. I am thinking it can be a library for Megan since there is really no space for her books in our study (there isn't even enough for our own books). So shelves for general storage have to come in, racks for 'books of the week' gotta go up, some posters and a whiteboard may be good too.

Oh gosh, there seems to be a lot to do! I am getting very excited (and frazzled cos I dunno where to start!) Ok, now I shall go to bed and recharge, and dream up a brilliant plan to declutter efficiently, and reorg the apartment for PROJECT 2009 (Homeschool@Depot Rd).

Fishes

I am tempted to get more fishes as looking at the aquarium is rather therapeutic. We have 2 blackish-silver fishes (breed: unknown to me) in our 2 feet tank, so we could really accommodate more fishes. I think I will let these two "peng-you-yu" and "mei-mei-yu" (my daughter calls them by these names) settle in first. Its been a week and they seem to be doing ok with us. I must really compliment Megan for being a responsible pet owner - she will always remember "bu-ke-yi-chi-dou-dou" (cannot eat too much) when we feed the fishes. I am very proud of her :)

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!