Play n Learn: My Boy Starts To Write

I know my boy can write number "1" at age 2+. After all, he is good at scribbling any lines or sketching any shapes of his favor. But this year, he starts attending a formal class (not playschool anymore) and he is taught to trace (yeap, not write from the root) the numbers and alphabets progressively.

To help him learn better, I put up a number chart onto the wall of our bedroom. So every night, he can point and read the numbers which he can recognise. Also, he is very keen on writing with Fisher Price's "Doodle" drawing board... but we are freaked when he can write number "2" as well. We are pretty happy to learn about his progress and wish he can do better at his own pace.

Keep it up!!!

Sing Me A Love Song

My boy turns 3 years old this year. He goes to Kindergarten now. He can talk better and sing better. For negative, he shows his anger if we scold him; he challenges our patience. Sometimes, he can be a little sweet boy; but sometimes, he can be a little monster.

Nevertheless, I am proud of him... especially he can sing many songs for me. He loves to sing. In recent, I hear him singing a new song. A theme song from Barney's MTV - "I Love You, You Love Me". But he can only pick few lines from this song. So I ask my hubby to search the song with lyrics from Youtube. Then I play the song and practise the lyrics with him. He takes 3 nights to sing it aloud words by words.


My best Valentine's gift is never such sweetest. (Hehe, my hubby was definitely defeated!!!) Thank you and I love you, my little lover!

LEGO Fun

My boy has been playing megablock set for more than 2 years. Recently I can notice that he starts to get bored on it. So I tell my hubby that maybe we can let him play some "Lego" bricks. We finally bought one set home. The ideal age is 4+but we trust our boy understands the safety rule to handle such tiny bits. We have educated him from early. He never puts coins or any hard (not edible) particles into his mouth.

On the first "Lego"

lesson, my boy was happily (as usual) to open up the packs filled with "Lego" bricks and asked his daddy to play together. Wow.. the big man and the small boy looked so serious in assembling their "Lego" bits. I quickly took my camera to catch some shots. In the end, only daddy managed to build his first "Lego ship"... haha... in his lifetime.

Like Father Like Son

.... Almost 3 weeks, I've not been blogging. I'm not lazy, but I'm tired. Excuse? Excuse! Ha ha ...Today, I can't think of any ideas to write about. Still I have some funny photos of my boy to share here. A week ago, I was taking picture of some products while my boy played his toys. Suddenly he walked to me and asked me to take picture for him. Alright, I took few. Flash 1, flash 2, flash 3... then he offered to make different expressions.

"Mommy, look... I'm angry".... "I laugh" .... "I cry".... "I'm scared".... "I smile"... In minutes, my boy amazed me with all kinds of funny emotions which he could think of. Oh no, my hubby or his daddy, used to like to do so in front of camera too. Now, it proves that our son has inherited his cheeky "gene".

Only Sand n Water

We live near Port at the west coast. But in this week, our boy just got his 1st beach walk at Redang Island. It was so funny to watch him walking barefoot

at the beach (to the sea). At half way,

he screamed for help.. begged us to carry him because he felt his feet were getting dirty. My hubby convinced him to walk to the sea for "cleaning". Without choice, he walked slowly to the sea with us. Followed by the day, he could ran to the beach and the sea fearlessly.

The main purpose of this trip was to make our boy enjoy the beauty of nature. The sand, the sea, the sky, the mountain and even the fishes under the seawater. He is so happy and can't wait to jump into the water. He is less fear now. Therefore we must keep our eyes closely on him.

Happy Birthday To Daddy

Last night, I persuaded my boy to sing "birthday song" to his daddy. To my surprise, he's very co-operative to do it for video recording too. Only one take and we both were so thrilled about the result.

Dear daddy, happy birthday!!! And here's your present. Plus a cake, only smart people can see it.. hehehe..

I was a little jealous too. I told my hubby that he's luckier than me to receive "better" birthday present from our boy. Ha ha ...

1,2,3.... Action!

After watching the "Cars" animated movie, my boy starts playing with toy vehicles now. Sometimes, he puts all the toy vehicles (include thomas train, police cars, mini wooden truck, bus) in a row and pushes them vigorously one by one on the floor. To me, it looks more like a crash than a race (with some overturned and some stacked on each), but my boy enjoys the car-racing game which created in his own version.

Besides, he likes to mimic the main character "Lightning McQueen" too. On his tricycle, he pretends to ride as fast as and makes a sudden "turn" or "jump" then adds the fancy slogan like how McQueen says it in the movie - "Ka-chow!".

One Roti Canai, Please!

This morning, we stopped by at market to buy breakfast. Before I got down from the car, my boy reminded me again to buy him "I want one Roti Canai, Ok?". My boy has very little exposure to Bahasa Malaysia (BM). "Kakak" is the first B.M word which he calls my parents' housemaid.

Since my boy can eat more outside food (restaurants/hawker stalls), he get chances to taste different kinds of local food like Pan Mee, Bak Kut Teh, Wanton Mee, Nasi Lemak and Roti Canai. Even sometimes he asks for little Curry Laksa soup. Over times, we notice that he actually picks up some words in B.M such as Nasi Lemak, Roti Canai and the numbers of 1 to 4. We couldn't stop laughing when we overheard his funny B.M speech for first time.

My boy: Kakak, satu, dua, tiga, empat... Roti Canai, Nasi Lemak.

"Kakak" was stunned and answered: Ya.. ya..

He knows that we talk with "Kakak" in this language (B.M). My boy tries to communicate with "Kakak" too. He just copies whatever he knows.

My boy: Kakak, cepat cepat.. sini sini.

Until today, he always likes to use his limited B.M to talk with "Kakak". Looks like children learn languages by ear. Better or little, it just doesn't matter, at least they are learning.

Ever Lasting Nursery Rhymes

One night (this month), I asked my boy to sing few songs while I recorded them via camera. *Note: Actually I'd like to keep the records of how good he can sing the nursery rhymes at 2.5 years old. Sure he will like to watch his performances in future.

My top picks of English nursery rhymes are The Star (as sung by my boy in the above video clip), Baa Baa Black Sheep and Alphabet Song. These three songs are sharing the same tunes. So easy to sing. They are great to soothe baby to sleep and even to pacify him if he cries.

I believe these nursery songs are ever outdated. They will be continued sung from one generation to another generation.

Play n Learn: Count Little Fingers

These days we like to ask our boy do counting. Not using any math books. Since he knows the sequence of 1 to 10, we begin to introduce Math in his daily life. Like during reading, we ask him how many birds(image) on the page; during mealtime, we ask him how many plates on the table; during playtime, we ask him how many balls in the basket; during shopping, we ask him how many tins of milk powder in the cart. Let him count anything he can see and/or touch even though sometimes he makes error. Through many trials and errors,he picks up faster.

The most simple one, we just ask him to count how many fingers on his hand(s). (Note: This can be done anytime and anywhere like during a car ride or while queuing at the cashier) In my opinion, my boy is still young, he should enjoy learning process through fun methods. We try to promote "Zero Stress" in his early learning environment.

Honour Him A "Super" Status

That's it. We granted our 2+y.o boy a "super" title with what he is doing. Now he will sit well on his car seat or a highchair when we ask him to take his "super" seat.

Months ago, after we realised that our boy has declared his 1st independence from us (ie walk by himself (resist to hold hands); bathe by himself; dress up by himself and sit like us (without highchair & car seat), we start to worry about his safety. Until I read him this book "Room on Broom" by Julia Donaldson, the phrase of "magnificent broom" gave me the idea about "super" term. Next day in the car, I spoke to my boy who stood beside me.

I asked: Boy, would you like to sit on your "super" seat? It's "super" seat, only you got it, you know?

He turned to me and replied curiously: Yes... Super seat, I got. Mommy no? (new term easily caught his attraction)
I answered: Yes, mommy and daddy don't have. Only you got.

To our delight, he quickly moved to the car seat and sat on it till we reached our destination. He is happy with the new status. To protect his little pride in showing-off his little independence, we continue with this soft tactic to coax him (like his "super" bed or "super" chair or "super" car-trolley/pram). Indeed, little ones have self-esteem from young age! We understand that our little one wished to act like us to do things by his own. So we no longer use "baby" kind of term on his items. We let him feel that he has grown up mentally with the honour - "super".

Just think about what your little ones like.

Play n Learn: Our House Got Talent

My boy likes to sing in solo now. Recently he learns to sing Hokkien songs... Not a joke, he can sing the chorus part. So he always hosts his talent's show in our bedroom as well as in the car. Even he braves himself to sing for his grandparents, uncles/aunties and cousins upon request. What a little man he is!(Applaused) But when he gets too excited on singing... OMG, he'll be like yelling, not singing anymore!

Sharing here with one of his singing video clips - a simple counting rhyme of "Five Little Ducks":

Five* Little Ducks Went Out One Day
*Repeat with Four, Three, Two, One
Went Overhill and Far Away

Mother Duck Said: Quak, Quak, Quak...
Only Four* Little Ducks Came Back.
*Repeat with Three, Two, One, None

Note: Picture inserted at right - One of his Term 1's art projects in Toddler Program.
Teacher sang the above song which followed by some actions. So I will do the same when singing it to my boy. Children easily pay attention to the funny sounds or exaggerate actions or facial expressions that are involved in a reading or singing or dancing.

Although he can just sing one paragraph, we feel much satisfied about his performance. Absolutely never forget some big claps to appreciate his little talent show.

Sweetest Birthday's Greeting for Mummy

This morning.. my little tot just woke up and I told him about my birthday (today). So I asked him what he wanted to say... without a second, he said "Happy Mother's Day" to me. Whaaaa!!! Then I gave him a little clue - cake, eventually I got the right one. Quickly I recorded it via iphone.

With the high-tech devices, we are able to photograph or videotape the very special moments of our little ones. It's a good keepsake that can be kept and played back (to show) to them in later years or forever.

Oh, I can't wait to share my birthday cupcakes with him later. Yum.. yum..

Precious Mother's Day Gift

Happy Mother's Day to all great moms in the world.

I'm being a mother for the 3rd year. I (for all moms) only wish that our little one(s) is healthy and happy. That's the best blessings.

But this year, I got a special Mother's Day's gift from my 2 y.o boy. What could he get for me?

There's nothing worth more than a humble greeting from my dear child. I also asked him to greet his grandmothers when he met them later. Yes, he did so.

Funny Quotes From My Boy

Stepping into a new year.. so many changes to be adapted. I was a 9to5 employee, now I am a full time mom; my boy was looked after by a nanny, now he is staying with me all day long (every day). More time to spend with him, of course more patience is required too. Yes, I feel myself like a dormant volcano.. not active one but hopefully it won't erupt one day. However, I appreciate the angel's side of my little mischievous boy has. Sometimes his little talks can cheer me up for days... wondering how the little brainy works.

Quote 1:
Once our bedroom's light is off, we will hear our boy calling.
My boy: So many dark-dark, mommy, daddy!
Me or his daddy: It's very dark, dear.(LoL)
*Well, he understood the meaning although he misused it here. Like he always tell his daddy "so many cars" when we are on the main road.

Quote 2:
We got our boy a kid-sized bed attached to ours. But he still prefers to co-sleeping with us. One night during CNY, my boy like usual night laid aside me on our bed.
Me: Boy, why don't you sleep on your little bed?
My boy: Because... I oioi (sleep) here.
*I was amused and amazed too.. he talked so reasonable by answering me "Because". After that night, I try to ask him many "why" questions..

Quote 3:
Last night, I read to my boy and his little fingers played around my hairs. Suddenly he showed me a hair and said "see mommy, hair... throw it"
Me: Yes, mommy's hair dropped... oh no, mommy will be bald!
My boy: Botak (*bald in B.M)? haha, mommy botak.. botak like Ah Kaw gong gong.
His talk was not ended yet and continued.
My boy: Mommy, hair spoilt, buy new one... pay money, say thank you. Ok? Ok.
*Oh no, he made a sense with it even though it's impossible to buy hair (except a wig) and to put it onto the head.

I believe if you spend little time (during bedtime) to talk with your kids. Over many conversations, you will see the progresses they have made day by day.