5 years old

谨卉 (Jillian) is 5 years old now.
Celebrated with her a few days.

Had a dinner at Swensen and enjoyed her favourite ice-cream. She has been celebrating her birthday at the Swensen every year.

Brough her to Universal Studio Singapore to take photos with different characters, taking a few rides and watching some performance.

She also had a simple birthday party at the childcare center with her classmates. A few days before the party, we went to shop for items for the goodies bags to be given to her friends. She packed it happily with her mum.

Will be bringing her to watch the Korean's musical performance, Nanta, at Esplanade a few days later. Just wanted to expose her to different Arts and be entertained by the International group.

Most importantly, wish her healthy, happy and enjoy every minutes in life :-)
Cheers !

We will always be left with a year of challenges

Human's development is really amazing. My daughter is coming to 5 years old soon and some of the improper behavior seems to disappear gradually and naturally.

We used to prompt her to sit down and tuck in together many times during meal time, whether it is at home or eating out. Most of the time, she will just try to take some and left much for us to feed her when we have finished ours. In the past few weeks, we observe that she is able to sit down and finish most of the food before starting to get  naughty again. Hence, it is much more enjoyable now and can engage her better over meal rather than being angry with her for not wanting to eat and finish it.

A the moment, her favourite food is egg, sausages, fried chicken, broccoli, butter, cheese, instant noodle and dessert especially the chocolate favor. And she does not like to have gravy to go with her rice. I always like to say that 5 years old solves the 4 years old challenges. We will always be left with a year of challenges to guide her along the way. Most importantly is to have the patient to live with it for the year long before the challenges are kind of addresses gradually and naturally.

Ha...ha...ha...

First time as a Model

Sent my daughter to the Child Care Centre this morning as usual. When we reached, she spotted the centre's brochure with her photo on its frontpage.

She was surprised and happy about it :-) We were more surprise than her. Ha...ha...ha....Come to think of it, this is the first time she poses as a model "commercially". Actually, the photo was taken when the class was having an activity.

<------------ She is smiling brightly here

Very soon, she will be leaving the centre and moving on to a new stage of life as a primary school pupil. ;-)

My daughter's drawing (2)

My daughter has been enjoying much in drawing and then colouring it. I also enjoy going through the drawing with her, listening to the story of the drawing and peep at her as she draws, her small tongue will slip out at times as she focuses on creating another master piece.

I can see improvements in her drawing and I am happy for her. One thing that I am always on lookout is the colorfulness of it. I think it may say something that I may have not realized it. So far, the colour used is bright, active and happy.

In our next overseas holiday, I will try to do a nice chop for her so that she can stamp it on her drawings just like a Master. Ha...ha...ha... :-)

Kids Run 2010

Signed up the Cold Storage Kids Run 2010 for my daughter. :-)

The event is on 23 May 2010 and she will be running on the F1 track. This is the first time she is participating in an official running. For the 4 to 5 years category, the running distance is 800m. I will be joining her in the run at 7.30am. Pretty short but a good beginning for her :-)

I hope that she will find the run interesting and enjoyable. Most importantly is for her to experience running together with other kids leisurely and have fun. If you are also keen to sign up for your kid, please visit the website. @ S$28 per kid

Hope that it will be a fine weather on 23 May 2010 morning.

Having fun in enrichment programmes

Managed to sign up three enrichment programmes for my daughter.

As a parent, we explore and plan out the possible options. As a good friend, we share and discuss it with our daughter so that she understands what the programme is about. To help her understanding it better, we bring her to observe the actual programme, teacher or trainer in-action and the learning environment. We only sign her up when she loves to join in.

In the coming months, she will be attending ballet dancing for pre-schooler in one of the Community Centres and drawing class in one of the private learning centres. Presently, she is attending a Chinese speech and drama class with a clan association.

Expectation ? Nothing much or specific from us. Just want her to have fun and enjoy the activities with friends from all walks of life. That's why we sign her up for the different programmes in a different settings. If she does not like it, we will not continue with it after the end of the programme and we will move on to other new areas for her.

Really no expectation of her ? Emm ...., well...., yes. To appreciate that learning is a fun and enriching journey. Ha ...ha ...ha ...

My daughter's drawing

Another creative drawing by my daughter :-)




Trying to build her drawings into an online collection so that we can access it anytime, anywhere from now till forever. Ha...ha...ha... Need to check with her the story of this drawing. Too much for me to decipher her work at the moment.

Drawing and Picnic

I realize that all kids seem to enjoy drawing and to colour the drawing. Why ? Maybe it is a very easy way for them to express themselves.

My daughter is of no exception. She enjoys watching tv programme that has music, story telling and with live drawing of the happening of the story. I am sure she is learning how characters and objectives could be drawn from circles, squares, lines, finger prints etc and connecting these up into something nice and appealing. Of course, she will also learn to narrate her story as she draws. Most importantly, she likes to share it with me and her mum ;-)

She drew the following last night and the story was:



The little girl on the left is my daughter. She is having a picnic with a tent and ground sheet. Fire is setup near the tent for cooking. She has a great time and went home after the picnic.

My daughter has been requesting to go picnic and we have agreed to organize one soon. She is definitely looking forward to the picnic much :-)

Ha...ha...ha...

Watching movie

It has been pretty awhile since I last visited a cinema. Not so often after marriage and nearly zero after the birth of my daughter.

Finally went for a movie again and together with my daughter last night - Alvin & Chipmunks 2. :-) My first movie with her. However, it was not her a first visit to cinema. Her mum had brought her to watch her first movie a few months ago. I forgotten the title. Ha...ha...ha...

Besides feeling that the sound was a bit too loud, my daughter had enjoyed the show much and well behaved during the movie. For GV, I would need to buy a ticket for her since she is at least 90cm tall now. Was not so keen to buy her a ticket initially because the seat could be too low for her and she is likely to sit either on my or FP's lap. To my surprise, GV provided boaster for kids at the entrance. Hence, all of us had a proper seat and my daughter could also watch it comfortably. :-)

Would like to bring her to watch a few more movies. Of course, no horror movie but cartoons and those that she is likely to understand and recognize.

Btw, just realized that it is pretty expensive to catch a movie nowadays, S$10 per person and the cinema is still as dark as before with the usual type of seat. :-(

Maybe due to inflation ba. Ha...ha...ha...

Playground at home

My daughter's playground at home.

I thought I have not bought many toys for her but I must think otherwise.
I dun really feel that it is a waste of money as toys help and facilitate learning. It also creates a platform for communication. What can she do with all these collections and our "investment" ?

- She likes to play cook cook and to lay table with many dishes and drinks. She enjoys taking order from us. :-)

- She likes to build tall tall with lego or other blocks. She can now form story about it and has the idea how she wants to build it.

- She likes to lie down to drink her milk milk on the colourful mattress and placing one of her leg over the other :-(

This is where she learns and we talk.
This is also where her childhood is and our sweet memory.

Ha...ha...ha...

Learning with technology

Ever since I started to use iPhone, my daughter has been pretty active using it and engaged / amazed with the touch screen feature. She can easily navigate and using it to get things done accordingly. She learns it with minimum help from me. The screen is also big enough for her to enjoy her favorite video clips. It is really fun and amazing to see the way she uses it. My only worry is when will she slip the iPhone from her small hand :-(

I have also started to introduce youtube to her. Quite useful when i bring her to library as we can access the youtube information from the public terminals besides borrowing books and reading to her.

Technology can really help to facilitate and enhancing learning experience. Just need to know when to rest and go for some outdoor/physical activities to sweat it out. Leading a balance lifestyle is very very important not only to a kid but also for an adult.

Happy Birthday

My daughter turns 4 year old a few days ago.



Her birthday is always a big thing to me. I will explore what presents to buy for her, where to bring her for celebration and how to organize a simple celebration with her friends in the childcare center, etc. She will start to receive red packet a few days before her actual day from the Seniors. We also involve her in the process, especially for the session with her friends, to let decide what goodies bags to buy for them within a budget.



I will get her to hold a number on her actual day and take a picture of her. :-)

After much exploration, I din buy her any present this year. She already has many toys, DVDs, clothings, books etc. Maybe, it is time for her to learn that birthday is not so much about presents but more about sharing....sharing time with her family, her friends and sharing her joy with all. In this respect, i believe I am celebrating her birthday everyday. Of course, she will still receive scoldings from me whenever she is out of the limit that we have set for her.

As a parent, it is always fulfilling and happy to see how much she has grown, physically, mentally and emotionally. Ha...ha...ha...

Going to school

I have been driving my daughter to school in the morning whenever the timing is feasible. However, my daughter prefers that i walk her to the school instead of driving her. Initially, I though that she was tired of being in a car. After awhile, I realize that it is not.

It takes about 5 to 7 minutes to walk to the school. Along the way, there are 3 spots that there would be general slope. My daughter enjoys the thrill of moving down fast these general slopes. In addition, she can chase cats as and when it appears. I think, it is an enjoyable walk with fun activities. Sitting in a car is just too boring.

Though i prefer fetching her to school in the car so that i can go to work after that (and save some time), I follow her and walk to the school. While she is enjoying what she can possibly does along the way, i enjoy watching her learning and having some light moments "interacting" with the living environment. I can also show and explain to her how to cross the road. I will definitely miss the wonderful opportunity if i insist driving her to school just because I say so.

It is, indeed, a relaxing and enjoyable 5 to 7 minutes walk :-)
Ha...ha...ha...

wii or not to wii

I dun play computer games. Why ? Properly dun have much patient to learn and to move from one stage to another stage as the game progresses. However, I do enjoy simple gaming such as PCman. Ha...ha...ha...

I am presently exploring some games for my daughter and is considering wii. I am not very sure of wii world. Hence working hard now to learn a bit more from the Internet and seeking advise from colleagues. Why wii ? It just happens that the office has a wii platform and it seems suitable for my daughter to play around with it.

Why for my daughter ? I like and enjoy introducing her to the wonder of the world out there so that i can better guide her and engage in the learning together. Reduced surprises and risks as she grows.

Helping out at home

It is, indeed, the time to encourage my daughter to help out at home.

At this moment, she is still very excited to wash things such as vegetables, car, plates etc. Of course i know that she is riding on the opportunity to play with water and soap. Nevertheless, it is a good start and hopefully she will continue to do it willingly and happily.

Meanwhile, it is the parent's job to "promote" it positively rather than making it as a dirty and unimportant chore especially as a mean to punish a kid who made a mistake.

Rambutan

Brought home some rambutan last night. Worried that there might be ants, I decided to peel all and put it in the fridge first. My daughter saw what I was doing and quickly went to get a small chair wanting to help me.

I showed her how to do it and she dare not to bite off the "shell" and has no strength to twist it open. Hence, I open part of it for her and she finished the rest. She enjoyed herself and sweating much at the same time. Ha...ha...ha...



But got scolded from me later because she dragged again when asked her to brush teeth, almost every night and every morning. :-( tiring

Insomnia

This is the first time my daughter experienced insomnia.

I was pretty tired after attending an event and managed to get her to realize that it was also, indeed, time to sleep. It was already 11pm+. I slept before her though I could sense that she was still rolling on the bed, moving her legs and trying to find a suitable position. When I realized that she had taken longer time than usual to fall asleep, it was almost 1 a.m. My daughter was still awake and alert! I made another bottle of milk for her, hoping that it would help her sleep better. I have no idea what time she eventually slept or did she sleep at all? She was awake and afresh at 6.30am following me to wet market to do some marketing.

We din give her coffee or tea (She likes to ask for some coffee from me whenever she sees me having it, less frequent now) . She had milk and active as usual. Yes, she had a nap in the afternoon for around 1 hour 30 minutes but should not had caused it.

We do not why she could not sleep well that night. It is, definitely, not good for her to miss her sleep and to rest less than 8 hours a day. Will be observing her closely these few days to see if she experiences it again.

Hopefully, it was a one-off happening.

Low IQ and High EQ

While my daughter was sitting on my lap enjoying the ice cream, we posed for a photo taking. I was a bit tired after a day's work and decided to be funny. After seeing the photo, I think it says much about an adult's low IQ and a kid's high EQ.

Ha...ha...ha...

Washing car

Finally, I got my daughter to help washing the car today.

She has been asking me for it. She was very excited when i shared with her that we go wash it this morning after my AYG dry run. I think she liked it because it is something new and she can play with water when washing the car without getting any scolding :-)

She was pretty "hardworking" when washing the car:



I am sure she has enjoyed doing the simple task. It is also another opportunity to do some exercise together. After the washing, i encouraged her with a mini ice-cream at home:



Thanks, 谨卉

Bali Club Med (3)

While we were having a relaxing moment at the bar counter, a G.O. came and started to talk to us. She asked where we were from, how long we have been in the village and how was the stay so far etc. She also started to engage my daughter and I captured their conversation in the following video:



I was surprised that my daughter was willing to talk to her and did it pretty well. :-)

The staff is a Singaporean and understudying the Chief at the moment in running the whole village, ie properly to success the current Chief in the near future. All the best :p