Seeing that Korkor has got homework to do everyday, the girl does not want to be left out of the action. The moment she saw Korkor leave his table, she rushed to get onto his seat and started doing her own "homework" too.
Turn up your volume to hear the sound effects from her. As you can tell, she was in an extremely agreeable mood and nodded so enthusiastically to all my requests.
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Homework for the Boy
I was caught by surprise when I went to pick Caleb up from school one day and his Chinese teacher asked me whether it was possible for me to bring some homework home for Caleb to do. My first reaction... "Homework??!! HuH!!... but he's not even 4 yet??!! (but I didn't say that to his teacher lah... I just appeared very cool and calm, as I always do 
...)
Then she explained to me that since Caleb's on a half day program, he's lagging behind his peers who are all in full day school. They spend their time in the afternoon writing Chinese characters so they're way ahead of him, like by 2 books. Plus, he doesn't write that fast and tends to draw the strokes instead of write them so he doesn't get that many Chinese characters completed during class time. Then she added that if he doesn't catch up with the rest now, when he gets to K1 next year, he'll have greater difficulty catching up with his peers.
Well, I had 2 reactions. One is... You got to be kidding me! He's not even 4 yet and she's talking about him lagging behind in school! Hello, I didn't even learn how to read and write till I went primary 1 and I think I did a pretty decent job academically.
Then reality hit and I thought, ok, poor kid. This is the Singapore education system that we're talking about here. Highly driven and competitive. And I guess times have changed. During my time, kids don't start school like at 18months or 2 yrs old. Some of my peers when to nursery but many started school only at K1. And I guess it's true, if all his peers already know how to read and write like at 4 years old, by the time they get to primary 1, they'll probably be a lot more proficient than him. And that may give him additional pressure to catch up with the rest or perhaps discourage him or affect his confidence. Well, from my observation of my son, he needs constant motivation and needs to know that he is doing well, otherwise his tendency is to give up altogether so... I have succumbed to the peer pressure and now I look like one of this Kiasu mothers who make their little toddlers do homework everyday!
Yes, so now, after Caleb wakes up from his afternoon nap, from Mondays to Fridays, he has to finish writing one new character in his book. For each character, he's supposed to write it 21 times. The first day that we brought home the book, he was very enthusiastic and finished writing 2 new characters. Then his enthusiasm started to dwindle and he finished writing only 1 character, and then it was half and then he barely wrote the word 3 times and he started complaing that his hand was tired, it was difficult, blah blah blah....
It reached a stage where I had to escalate to the Escalation Manager, Daddy to step in, and then Daddy rectified the situation and got Caleb to agree that, writing 1 new word a day would be part of his weekday routine. On top of that, Daddy insisted that after Caleb finished writing each character, he has to read it out so that he remembers what he is writing. According to Daddy, that's how Grandma taught him last time.
See, this is a sample of one of Caleb's nicer writings. Each day, after he finishes his writing, I'll test him on the past words that he wrote to refresh his memory. Ha! Call me Kiasu ok, but I don't want my son to waste time writing the characters and not have any idea what he's writing after that.
The night before, Grandpa and Grandma came to babysit and Grandpa sat through with Caleb to do his writing. The word for that day was 牛. The sneaky boy actually told Grandpa that after he finished writing each word, Grandpa had to say out the word, 牛. We only found out about it when we came home and the next day when I tested the boy what word that was, he couldn't remember it.
Anyway, I'm pleased to announce that we have finished writing 1 book at home and now I'm waiting for Caleb's chinese teacher to pass me another for him to write at home. Actually I think it's not too bad that I sit down with him to do his writing coz I can give him one on one attention, revise with him the words, and at least I have an idea what he's learning in school. Whenever I ask him what Chinese word did he write in school, he'll tell me he can't remember. I did have a scary thought when I first sat down with him to do the writing though... so this is what it's going to be like for the next 10 years? Sitting down with my children everyday, supervising and helping them with their homework. Now I'm starting to see what parents mean when they sound like they are the ones taking exams and doing projects when their kids are the ones who's supposed to be going through those.
...)Then she explained to me that since Caleb's on a half day program, he's lagging behind his peers who are all in full day school. They spend their time in the afternoon writing Chinese characters so they're way ahead of him, like by 2 books. Plus, he doesn't write that fast and tends to draw the strokes instead of write them so he doesn't get that many Chinese characters completed during class time. Then she added that if he doesn't catch up with the rest now, when he gets to K1 next year, he'll have greater difficulty catching up with his peers.
Well, I had 2 reactions. One is... You got to be kidding me! He's not even 4 yet and she's talking about him lagging behind in school! Hello, I didn't even learn how to read and write till I went primary 1 and I think I did a pretty decent job academically.
Then reality hit and I thought, ok, poor kid. This is the Singapore education system that we're talking about here. Highly driven and competitive. And I guess times have changed. During my time, kids don't start school like at 18months or 2 yrs old. Some of my peers when to nursery but many started school only at K1. And I guess it's true, if all his peers already know how to read and write like at 4 years old, by the time they get to primary 1, they'll probably be a lot more proficient than him. And that may give him additional pressure to catch up with the rest or perhaps discourage him or affect his confidence. Well, from my observation of my son, he needs constant motivation and needs to know that he is doing well, otherwise his tendency is to give up altogether so... I have succumbed to the peer pressure and now I look like one of this Kiasu mothers who make their little toddlers do homework everyday!
Yes, so now, after Caleb wakes up from his afternoon nap, from Mondays to Fridays, he has to finish writing one new character in his book. For each character, he's supposed to write it 21 times. The first day that we brought home the book, he was very enthusiastic and finished writing 2 new characters. Then his enthusiasm started to dwindle and he finished writing only 1 character, and then it was half and then he barely wrote the word 3 times and he started complaing that his hand was tired, it was difficult, blah blah blah....
It reached a stage where I had to escalate to the Escalation Manager, Daddy to step in, and then Daddy rectified the situation and got Caleb to agree that, writing 1 new word a day would be part of his weekday routine. On top of that, Daddy insisted that after Caleb finished writing each character, he has to read it out so that he remembers what he is writing. According to Daddy, that's how Grandma taught him last time.
See, this is a sample of one of Caleb's nicer writings. Each day, after he finishes his writing, I'll test him on the past words that he wrote to refresh his memory. Ha! Call me Kiasu ok, but I don't want my son to waste time writing the characters and not have any idea what he's writing after that.
The night before, Grandpa and Grandma came to babysit and Grandpa sat through with Caleb to do his writing. The word for that day was 牛. The sneaky boy actually told Grandpa that after he finished writing each word, Grandpa had to say out the word, 牛. We only found out about it when we came home and the next day when I tested the boy what word that was, he couldn't remember it.
Anyway, I'm pleased to announce that we have finished writing 1 book at home and now I'm waiting for Caleb's chinese teacher to pass me another for him to write at home. Actually I think it's not too bad that I sit down with him to do his writing coz I can give him one on one attention, revise with him the words, and at least I have an idea what he's learning in school. Whenever I ask him what Chinese word did he write in school, he'll tell me he can't remember. I did have a scary thought when I first sat down with him to do the writing though... so this is what it's going to be like for the next 10 years? Sitting down with my children everyday, supervising and helping them with their homework. Now I'm starting to see what parents mean when they sound like they are the ones taking exams and doing projects when their kids are the ones who's supposed to be going through those.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Counters!
New feature on this blog! Countdown and Countup timers on the left! Getting excited with the 3rd one's arrival, now that he (or she) is almost 9cm long/tall already, yes our 3rd little precious (say it like Gollum from Lord of the Rings... yes, you got it. Now all the LOTR fans, let's say it together again... Precioussssssssss!).
First added the countdown counter, then realised I gotta be fair as a daddy, everybody must have one right? So added one countup counter for Caleb and one countup counter for Sarah, so now we can all count up and down at the same time. Then I thought, maybe one more for counting up the day since we got married? Another one for the day since we got together? Since Caleb talked? Since Sarah walked? Wah, so many dates to keep track off.... aiyah, just one for each of my preciousssssss lah...
By now, you'd realise that I've gone a little mental tonight, yup... all thanks to the tons of work that has kept me running around like the barometer of economic crisis depends on my one's person work. The work is squeezing me dry (like I'm not already dried and thin enough, well, at least there's another in the family who is adequately getting fatter :)). This also explains why the frequency of posting has been cut by half, with the mummy blogging and the daddy flogging. Work any harder and I might really end up looking like Gollum after all, with my precioussssssss......
Anyway, back to the baby, yes almost there mummy, just 5 more months to go, then we can change the countdown counter to another countup counter, and leave a space for another countdown counter (I can almost imagine my wife giving me a knock on my head as she reads this line). Then we can have 4 precioussssss.... yes, altogether now..... Preciousssssssssssss!
Comments from my wife after reading the post...
a. "I'm not your precious meh, how come don't have one counter for me?!"
b. "Everyone else already have counters, now then you add, some more make it sound like so big deal, you very sua-ku leh!"
Comments on my wife's after-post thoughts...
It's late at night now, and she's preggy, will let her say what she wants to say, silence is golden (sing together with me... when my eyes still see... silence is golden golden.. when my...) for now.
First added the countdown counter, then realised I gotta be fair as a daddy, everybody must have one right? So added one countup counter for Caleb and one countup counter for Sarah, so now we can all count up and down at the same time. Then I thought, maybe one more for counting up the day since we got married? Another one for the day since we got together? Since Caleb talked? Since Sarah walked? Wah, so many dates to keep track off.... aiyah, just one for each of my preciousssssss lah...
By now, you'd realise that I've gone a little mental tonight, yup... all thanks to the tons of work that has kept me running around like the barometer of economic crisis depends on my one's person work. The work is squeezing me dry (like I'm not already dried and thin enough, well, at least there's another in the family who is adequately getting fatter :)). This also explains why the frequency of posting has been cut by half, with the mummy blogging and the daddy flogging. Work any harder and I might really end up looking like Gollum after all, with my precioussssssss......
Anyway, back to the baby, yes almost there mummy, just 5 more months to go, then we can change the countdown counter to another countup counter, and leave a space for another countdown counter (I can almost imagine my wife giving me a knock on my head as she reads this line). Then we can have 4 precioussssss.... yes, altogether now..... Preciousssssssssssss!
Comments from my wife after reading the post...
a. "I'm not your precious meh, how come don't have one counter for me?!"
b. "Everyone else already have counters, now then you add, some more make it sound like so big deal, you very sua-ku leh!"
Comments on my wife's after-post thoughts...
It's late at night now, and she's preggy, will let her say what she wants to say, silence is golden (sing together with me... when my eyes still see... silence is golden golden.. when my...) for now.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Sibling Time Together Part 2
Here's Caleb and Sarah fooling around together yesterday night. Check out the dramatic end at the end of the video.
Yup it ended in tears as Caleb got a smack from Sarah in the face. Just in case you think it always ends this way, actually not. Before I took a video of the two kiddos, they were already playing and tickling each other and Caleb had smacked Sarah on the head as well. Only difference is that my tough girl didn't cry but stared at her korkor. (Yah, this girl hardly cries. Even when she falls, hurts herself with blood and all, the amount of time she spends crying is maybe 10% of Caleb's reaction). I made Caleb apologise to Sarah then and told her that by hitting her, he's teaching her that it's ok to hit other people and she may think it's fun and hit him back. Ha! I'm not called Mummy for nothing. True enough, he gets a smack back from her after that. Well, I guess it's all about learning it the hard way!
Yup it ended in tears as Caleb got a smack from Sarah in the face. Just in case you think it always ends this way, actually not. Before I took a video of the two kiddos, they were already playing and tickling each other and Caleb had smacked Sarah on the head as well. Only difference is that my tough girl didn't cry but stared at her korkor. (Yah, this girl hardly cries. Even when she falls, hurts herself with blood and all, the amount of time she spends crying is maybe 10% of Caleb's reaction). I made Caleb apologise to Sarah then and told her that by hitting her, he's teaching her that it's ok to hit other people and she may think it's fun and hit him back. Ha! I'm not called Mummy for nothing. True enough, he gets a smack back from her after that. Well, I guess it's all about learning it the hard way!
Monday, April 13, 2009
Sibling Time Together
It warms my heart when I see Caleb and Sarah interacting and playing well together. Thankfully, though Caleb's a boy and obviously not as nurturing, he's still quite gentle with his meimei. When he interacts with Sarah, he'll give her occasional hugs and kisses and we've taught him to talk nicely and gently to Sarah when he wants to tell her something or when he wants some toy that she's playing with. Sarah herself has a gentle spirit in her and though she may be cheeky and not give in to her korkor, I've not seen her shove or push at him. Usually she'll just hold on firmly to the toy that Caleb hopes to have and shake her head or she'll just walk away from him. Other times, when she wants to interact with him, she'll go up to him and wave at him or pet him on his arm.
Here's one of my favourite videos of them sitting on the stroller together. They both quite enjoy sitting this way in the stroller and can't stop grinning when we pile them on like that.
And here's one funny video of them sharing apple juice. I brought the kiddos to the airport to pick Daddy up from his biz trip and whilst waiting for the plane to arrive, I bought them a packet of apple juice to share. Ya, I'm the evil Mummy, didn't get them one each but made them share instead. Well, I figured they wouldn't be able to finish one on their own and I was actually curious to see how well they'll cope with having to share with each other. Before I bought the apple juice, I did prepare Caleb by telling him that I was buying only one packet of apple juice and it wasn't for him alone but for him and Sarah. So, here's how they fared....
Not too bad I think... I was quite pleased that Caleb was willing to feed Sarah on his own accord and really amused, at how he tried to put on an authoratative tone to tell Sarah that it's the last mouth for her when she asked for more... as for that tone... ha, obviously he learnt that from me!
Here's one of my favourite videos of them sitting on the stroller together. They both quite enjoy sitting this way in the stroller and can't stop grinning when we pile them on like that.
And here's one funny video of them sharing apple juice. I brought the kiddos to the airport to pick Daddy up from his biz trip and whilst waiting for the plane to arrive, I bought them a packet of apple juice to share. Ya, I'm the evil Mummy, didn't get them one each but made them share instead. Well, I figured they wouldn't be able to finish one on their own and I was actually curious to see how well they'll cope with having to share with each other. Before I bought the apple juice, I did prepare Caleb by telling him that I was buying only one packet of apple juice and it wasn't for him alone but for him and Sarah. So, here's how they fared....
Not too bad I think... I was quite pleased that Caleb was willing to feed Sarah on his own accord and really amused, at how he tried to put on an authoratative tone to tell Sarah that it's the last mouth for her when she asked for more... as for that tone... ha, obviously he learnt that from me!
Friday, April 10, 2009
Sarah's favourite pastimes
There are a few things that never fails to amuse Sarah and keep her entertained. One is that she loves to stuff things into her clothes. She loves doing it especially when she's wearing a bodysuit. Perhaps she thinks that it works like a bag and can hold her stuff but seriously, every time I let her wear a bodysuit, at some point of the day, I'll catch her stuffing things into her clothes.
To date, I've caught her stuffing plastic alphabets, pencils, plastic toy figurines, magnets, blocks, rulers... actually anything that catches her eye. Ok, the pencils and rulers are "forbidden" items for her but somehow, being the resourceful girl she is, she still manages to get her hands on them sometimes. But they don't last long with her coz after a while, she'll find them poking her and she'll come to me to get help to remove them.
The plastic alphabets are a hot favourite for her and they fall into the category of most popular item to be stuffed into her clothes. Some days she stuffs a whole load of them and walks around cheekily. Those are obvious for me to detect but there are days when I find one or two alphabets hiding in her clothes or even her diaper when it's time for me to bath her.
This other video, I had to take, when I saw what she was stuffing into her clothes. They fall into the category of most bulky items to be stuffed in Sarah's clothes. She looked quite ridiculous walking around with this huge bulk at her tummy. Ha! Maybe she's just trying to look preggy like me!
The other thing that my girl enjoys doing... is to steal her kor kor's underwear. Yup, sounds like a strange fetish to me but she just gets a kick out of it. Perhaps it's the reaction she gets from him or it's just clothes that she can get her hands on... Usually the "crime" happens when kor kor needs to do his biz and he removes his underwear and shorts and arranges them nicely on the floor outside the toilet.
Well, meimei will come along, grab his underwear and start walking round the house with it. Some days she attempts to wear it... but she hasn't mastered the motor skills to put on her own clothes yet (though amazingly she's capable of removing her tops by herself). She'll just stretch it and bend her knees but she haven't figured out how to lift up her legs and balance herself to wear the underwear. (This, I'm thankful for coz it's quite gross to wear somebody else's dirty underwear isn't it!!??) Other times, she'll just carry it around with her like a security blanket and when she's bored with that, she starts using kor kor's underwear to do some cleaning for me, like rub the floor or some furniture.
Unfortunately, I've never been fast enough to capture her in the act of torturing her kor kor and his underwear, this is the best I've got in catching her wiping the floor with his underwear.
Her next best alternative is his shorts. Again the "crime" happened during one of Caleb's toilet moments. This time he only had his shorts on and he left it lying within reach of her. She gleefully grabbed it and see what she did to it...
Btw, Caleb has now wisened up to his meimei's antics and is quite protective of his underwear and shorts. He no longer leaves them lying on the floor when he needs to do his biz but he'll leave them on my bed and give me specific instructions to guard them for him and not let meimei take them.
To date, I've caught her stuffing plastic alphabets, pencils, plastic toy figurines, magnets, blocks, rulers... actually anything that catches her eye. Ok, the pencils and rulers are "forbidden" items for her but somehow, being the resourceful girl she is, she still manages to get her hands on them sometimes. But they don't last long with her coz after a while, she'll find them poking her and she'll come to me to get help to remove them.
The plastic alphabets are a hot favourite for her and they fall into the category of most popular item to be stuffed into her clothes. Some days she stuffs a whole load of them and walks around cheekily. Those are obvious for me to detect but there are days when I find one or two alphabets hiding in her clothes or even her diaper when it's time for me to bath her.
This other video, I had to take, when I saw what she was stuffing into her clothes. They fall into the category of most bulky items to be stuffed in Sarah's clothes. She looked quite ridiculous walking around with this huge bulk at her tummy. Ha! Maybe she's just trying to look preggy like me!
The other thing that my girl enjoys doing... is to steal her kor kor's underwear. Yup, sounds like a strange fetish to me but she just gets a kick out of it. Perhaps it's the reaction she gets from him or it's just clothes that she can get her hands on... Usually the "crime" happens when kor kor needs to do his biz and he removes his underwear and shorts and arranges them nicely on the floor outside the toilet.
Well, meimei will come along, grab his underwear and start walking round the house with it. Some days she attempts to wear it... but she hasn't mastered the motor skills to put on her own clothes yet (though amazingly she's capable of removing her tops by herself). She'll just stretch it and bend her knees but she haven't figured out how to lift up her legs and balance herself to wear the underwear. (This, I'm thankful for coz it's quite gross to wear somebody else's dirty underwear isn't it!!??) Other times, she'll just carry it around with her like a security blanket and when she's bored with that, she starts using kor kor's underwear to do some cleaning for me, like rub the floor or some furniture.
Unfortunately, I've never been fast enough to capture her in the act of torturing her kor kor and his underwear, this is the best I've got in catching her wiping the floor with his underwear.
Her next best alternative is his shorts. Again the "crime" happened during one of Caleb's toilet moments. This time he only had his shorts on and he left it lying within reach of her. She gleefully grabbed it and see what she did to it...
Btw, Caleb has now wisened up to his meimei's antics and is quite protective of his underwear and shorts. He no longer leaves them lying on the floor when he needs to do his biz but he'll leave them on my bed and give me specific instructions to guard them for him and not let meimei take them.
Wednesday, April 01, 2009
Updates?
Thanks for all the well wishes everybody... Updates will be slowly... (very, very slowly actually...) trickling in coz... the morning sickness monster is still camping in our household! and ND is away AGAIN! so... very little energy from the preggy to blog...
Anyway, while I'm at it... here's a short video on the girl amusing herself...
Lots of people have commented that they hardly see her smile or laugh. She definitely isn't as smiley as her kor kor but when she laughs or smiles, she's really the cutest thing.
Anyway, while I'm at it... here's a short video on the girl amusing herself...
Lots of people have commented that they hardly see her smile or laugh. She definitely isn't as smiley as her kor kor but when she laughs or smiles, she's really the cutest thing.
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