大小宝贝，上天恩赐！

裕会省钱

2012-01-02T23:12:00.005+08:00

Since young, I have been educating Yu on the need to save money. Gradually, he stops to ask to buy toy at outings. I also give him pocket money daily to encourage him to learn to add dollars and cents. Ever since, he is very careful in spending his money. Here are a few incidents which show how thrifty Yu is.

On 2 Jan 2012, we attended Yu's friend's birthday party and there was a pack of raisin in the goodies bag. I told Yu that I like raisin and he told me that he will give raisin to me during my birthday. He told me that he will collect raisin at birthday party. I then suggested to him that he can buy me 12 packets with less than $4, so as to cultivate his filial piety. I then went to take a bath. After I came out from the bathroom, guessed what he told me: “If I can earn 12 raisin before your birthday, then I don't need to buy.” He was thinking to win raisin at his school classroom contest, so that he does not need to spend money buying for me. I was amused and glad that he knows how to save money.

Yu has this habit of not finishing his milk and I threatened that he will have to pay me $1 each time he did not finish his milk. Since then, he always finishes his milk. Yu also has this habit of not finishing his rice and on 1 Jan 2012, I told him to pay my mum $2 next week if he did not finish his rice. He then attempted to eat more but still could not finish the. I slowly reduced the amount from $2 to $1 to $0.50. To save money, he finally finished all his food. Haha.

Yu likes a new NERF gun. Knowing that I will not buy for him and will suggest him to pay for himself if he insisted, he negotiated with me by suggesting me to buy the gun as his birthday present. I agreed and bought him the NERF gun on 24 Dec 2011. I will keep it until Mar 2012 before he can play with it. Yu knows delayed gratification.

Jenny borrowed money from Yu so that she can buy vegetable downstairs. Yu checked with her whether I will return him the money. On the night of the same day, Yu requested me to pay him back and refused to wait for the next day. He brought me my wallet to pay him back. Though he has poor memory, he remembered that I owed him money.

His daddy likes to give the small changes to Yu and Yu viewed this as a way to earn extra money. So, he started to ask to keep changes from buying things. On 25 Dec 2011, he kept the change after buying KFC cheese fries. He continued to do so and I stopped this habit by rejecting his subsequent request.

I think I am very successful in cultivating his good money habit.

2011年回顾

2011-12-31T21:40:00.001+08:00

今年最让我开心的事就是仕裕长期的鼻塞与咳嗽治好了。看着仕裕不能好好的睡觉，而常咳嗽至醒来，真叫我心痛不已。我当时的唯一愿望就是他能够好起来。我向观音祈求，让我遇到一个名医能治好他的病。虽没遇到，但台湾之行却让我认识到鹿胎，而在服食两个月后，仕裕的健康进步许多，现在已很少咳嗽鼻塞，终于把他治好了。

第二件让我开心的事是轩终于肯吃饭了。仕轩虽快四岁，却常期以喝奶为主食，偶而吃稀粥。我很担心他的健康。经过他老师的指点，我得知他较爱吃略湿的食物，而且在学校肯吃。就在家开始逼他吃饭。他开始时不断哭闹，但我只能硬下心肠。现在他终于定时吃饭，而且肯吃鱼与肉，令我又去掉另一块心头大石。

做出的最大改变是我要辞去工作。放弃非常好的医药福利及长达28天的假期，是一个非常艰难的决定。但工作上的不开心，令我极奇厌倦这份工作。虽贵为工作上的一好高手，申请兼职仍不获新上司批准。心想公司靠我的许多突破，却宁要全职员工，那就让他们去请新人吧。我从大学毕业就做这份工作，真得很想尝试别的工作。

不愉快的婚姻也让我很不开心，常令我觉得不辛福。我常是主动找话题的人，大小事由我打点及有事就只能靠自己，都令我非常厌倦。仕裕在我生日时拒绝买礼物给我，也令我意识到我不能以孩子为中心点。这也是我不想为了孩子而维持婚姻的原因。我想过着快乐及自由自在的生活，而第一件要做的事就是离婚。

我的想法已经改变。任何让我不开心的人与事，我都要铲除，这就包括工作与婚姻。新的一年，这两件事就是我的新年愿望。

仕轩是唯一带给我欢乐的人。我爱自己教育他及陪伴他出游。

今年我出国两次。新年期间带孩子去沙巴看烟花。五月与仕轩去台湾。这是多年来首次出远门。很享受台湾的美食。

我还是决定离婚

2011-12-30T02:02:00.002+08:00

一年八个月过去了，我终究还是觉得离婚对我最好。孩子们，妈妈想要过一个全新的生活。所以要终结这个有名无实的婚姻生活。

因为他，我常觉得自己不幸福。冰冻三尺，非一日之寒。我常是那个主动找话题的人。不是得到简短的答案，就是默不出声。在家也不会跟我聊天，就只是坐在客厅看电视或玩电脑，根本不沟通。

我生病时，只会说叫我妈妈来照顾我。打电话回来，就只说：不要讲了，你去休息。孩子生病更不用说。即使我在做月，仍是我半夜带孩子去医院。

家中大小事物由我操心，是十足的超级不管部长。

学校假期完全不象其他家庭一样出国旅行。不会安排要去那里。我想去的地方，他也不会带我去。

我还年轻，仍有很长的路要走。我觉得不应该为了孩子而维持婚姻。我应该过着自己想要过的日子。任何惹我不开心的人与事，我都要铲除，就向我的工作一样。

一年八个月前，我已经给过一次机会。彼此性格习惯大不相同，没必要勉强相处。这一次，也是最后一次，我将提出离婚，而且，我将不会改变主意。

育儿

2011-12-13T23:23:00.000+08:00

人说养儿防老，在这新一代已经不管用了。上星期五听到理发师投诉儿子连续几年不理她的感受，在年初一就回岳母家，令我有很多感触。她说对孩子付出几十年的心血，都经不起孩子因这一件事对她的不满，她每年过年都很伤心。

看到表弟及身边的同事，也都在娶了老婆之后，不能自己作主。我就告诉自己，不要把一切希望都寄托在孩子身上，不然将来一定会很失望。我应该过着自己想过的生活。所以，第一次有了与好友单独去日本，把孩子留在家里给先生顾的念头。我也不再把燕窝只留给仕裕吃，而是自己也吃，因为我也爱吃。

孩子仍是我的心头肉，无论如何我都无法放下。所以，我仍会继续给他们最好的，同时享受育儿的乐趣，不要在乎将来他们会不会照顾我。

令人厌恶的仕裕

2011-12-13T23:20:00.000+08:00

今晚，我又对仕裕咆哮大骂了。虽然我万分不愿意讲出伤人的话，但我最终还是以＂没有用的人＂来形容他。他天天惹我生气，常把我气得吐血。对我来说，他真得是对我没有用的人，因为他没为我的日子带来快乐。照顾他是一件烦人的事。叫他去沙巴跟他爸爸住是我在很生气时，常对他说的话。

单是今天，他花了两小时吃晚餐，三催四请仍不去冲凉。而被骂的导火因，则是因为仕轩的玩具火龙沾到汤而弄脏了。我已预想这件事有可能发生，而再三提醒他要小心注意桌子上的汤。但他最终仍没听进耳里。就是这种讲不听的性格，令我非常讨厌。

他喜欢拖延做事，爱唱反调，满口理由推搪做事。这些作风，完全遗传自他爸爸，难怪与我格格不入。

当佣人给他煮粥，他就要吃饭。当仕轩在影城要去看某个节目，他就不要看。他就是爱唱反调, 带给我问题。

叫他收玩具，他坚持仕轩一起收。倒翻汤拒绝用桌布抹。坏行为要数都数不尽。我不知道该如何更正他的品行，真是令人头疼！

当我生气时，他就会在睡前要求亲吻我。但我已气到不想理他。

Dinosaur walk

2011-12-10T23:51:00.011+08:00

After watching the Shrek movie at Universal Studio, Xuan fell in love with the fire-breathing dragon. I do not know whether it is for this reason that he starts to love dinosaur too.

On 26 Nov 2011, I bought Xuan his first toy dinosaur as a reward for obeying me to eat rice. We were in the process to force Xuan to eat rice instead of just drinking milk and eating porridge.

He likes the dinosaur so much that he brought it out with him the next day.

Building on his new interest, I then brought him to the Dinosaur Live exhibition at Science centre on 29 Nov 2011. He got to see many life-sized dinosaurs in their natural habitat and he enjoyed the colouring activity there. Here is the stegosaurus that he coloured.

After the trip, Xuan is willing to pay attention for at least 30 minutes when I read him the Time-Life Dinosuar encyclopedia and he is interested in any story book related to dinosaur.

Last night after watching the firework at Universal Studio, Xuan suddenly showed me how a dinosaur walks. His hands curve like the front legs of a T-rex and he walked slowly forward. I had a good laugh. Here is he doing dinosaur walk:

轩自己买东西

2011-12-04T20:57:00.006+08:00

At Bottle Tree Park, Xuan asked to feed fish. On the way to the stall to buy fish food, I handed him a $2 note. I was surprised when he asked me: "I said what?" He was asking me what should he say when he is buying the fish food.

Earlier in Nov 2011, I have just started to let him buy KFC whipped potatoes on his own twice. I taught him to say "One medium whipped potatoes, take away." when placing order. With just 2 experiences, he is already ready to buy fish food by himself. This showed that 轩胆子大 and he is not as shy as what he appears to be.

While waiting to be served, Xuan could not remember the exact phrase and kept asking me many times. The stall attendant is patient enough to wait for Xuan to tell him what he wants and I am grateful. Here is Xuan buying fish food on his own:

Yu@6 yrs 9 mths old - 在成长的孩子

2011-12-03T19:45:00.002+08:00

This is another month that I see much changes in Yu. In particular, he has grown to be more daring and he started to ask a lot of questions.

裕胆子变大了

At the Zoo, Yu wanted to sit at the front row to enjoy the water splash at animal show but I refused. Without a second word, he walked down the stairs and sat at the front row by himself. He did not plead me to follow him. At Science Centre on 29 Nov 2011, he also went to the toilet on his own while I waited for him at a food stall nearby. The toilet is out-of-my-sight but he dares to go on his own.

Afternote: On 10 Dec 2011, he dropped his agar-agar on the floor at Vivocity. I asked him to go to the toilet to wash it while I queued up to watch the musical show. He went alone to the toilet near the food court on the same level. The toilet is quite far away from the Sky Park that we were in.

Desire for a personal space

Yu starts to own his personal drawers where he placed his toys and sea shells. He now keeps his belongings like crafts from Zoo and Science Centre activities in his personal drawers.

Yu turns inquisitive

I noted that Yu starts to ask a lot of questions. The questions he asked included: why there is no tornado in Singapore, why meat will decay after a person is dead, “how is the whole universe that is holding all the planets born?” He also asked questions during outings, like what is the CCTV at Bottle Tree Park for. I am happy because I know he will gain a lot of knowledge if he is curious. As I could not answer most of his questions, I told him that he can find all answers to his questions from Internet. But he has yet to master the spelling of many words, so it will take some time before he can google search on his own.

Yu is not caring:

This is one thing that I hated most about him. He refused to help me carry things, even the lightest one like an empty water bottle. I was having shoulder pain one day and he refused to help me carry one of the 2 bags, saying that it was heavy and he wanted to play with Xuan. He gave excuses like it is heavy and the thing does not belong to him. I got very agitated each time he did that but he simply refused to help me carry things.

Money-minded:

Yu continued to be money-minded. When I told Jenny that I had thrown away some Xuan's old clothes to make spaces, Yu overheard and said: Don't throw, sell it. He paid attention to amount like $40,000 during announcement made at the musical show. And he asked me “Each drip of water is how much?” when I talked about the water bill.

Preparing Yu for primary 1:

He now washes his backside on his own after passing motion. I need to train him to use toilet paper.
When he reads, he does not stop at full stop.
When he writes, he tends not to start a sentence with capital letter but will write capital letters in the middle of a word or a sentence when there should not be.

鱼与熊掌，我都要!

2011-11-29T23:00:00.004+08:00

On 19 Oct 2011, Xuan asked to go to Universal Studio but there was not enough time as I needed to fetch Yu after the enrichment class. I told Xuan to do Window Arts at Vivocity but he insisted to go to Sentosa. I then brought him to ride monorail to and fro Vivocity. It was already 5.50pm and we needed to leave. Here came Xuan crying insisting that he wanted to “squeeze the paint” which was how I described the Window Arts to him earlier.

I thought this is just one instance and did not record it into his monthly milestone write-up. But it happened again.

On 28 Nov 2011, I took childcare leave so that we can have family outing as hubby was back in Singapore. But Yu wanted to fish prawn and Xuan insisted to go to Universal Studio. I tried to convince Xuan to go fishing but he insisted to go to US. After eating his favourite snack and watching a performance, we rushed back to Vivocity. On the way back, Xuan started making noise, saying that he wanted to go catch the fish. :-( Hmmm, this is the second time that Xuan behaves in this way.

Xuan wants the best of both worlds.

裕胆子变大了

2011-11-29T22:45:00.002+08:00

观赏动物演出前，仕裕要坐在第一排。那是泼水位。前些日子，裕看水底动物表演时，小朋友聚集在水池前被水泼，他这次想参于，所以要坐在前面。

我们没带衣服，怕被水淋湿，所以拒绝跟他一起坐在前排。令人意想不到的事情发生了。他竟然独自走下阶梯至第一排，然后坐下来。虽然他有回头看我们是否仍坐在后面，可是他继续独自坐在前排，直到仕轩也去坐在前排。

这真是巨大的改变。以往，若我们不跟随，他就不敢独自前往，虽然我再三担保我不会把他丢下。

轩终于肯吃饭了

2011-11-28T21:15:00.000+08:00

经过近两星期的努力，轩终于不再抗拒吃饭了。现阶段，他仍花长达一小时的时间吃饭，而且需配汤，一口饭，一口汤的吃。但吃粥则很快。粥不向以往需稀烂，而是呈粒状。

自从解决裕的健康问题后，我的第一隐忧就是仕轩的健康。他已三岁八个月，却仍以牛奶和粥为主食，完全不吃鸡、鱼、猪肉。这令我非常担心他的健康。很感谢上天又很快地解决了我的问题，不到一个月仕轩就肯吃了。

早前，我们曾经尝试喂仕轩吃饭，用他爸爸来恐吓他，但他仍拒绝就范。直到我去见他的学校老师，得到一些提示，说仕轩喜欢吃微湿的食物，我当天回家就叫Jenny 准备微湿的食物，再一次尝试喂他。他不停地哭，但这一次我坚决不让步，威胁力诱，恐吓他说叫他爸爸喂他，并喂他喝汤。他终于让步，而我们花了一小时来喂少许食物。接下来，不管他如何哭闹及花多少时间，我都坚持他得吃，现在终于成功了。我很开心。

十一月十五晚开始到今天二十八号，他终于在吃饭时不哭，及肯吃大粒的粥，我很高兴。

Yu starts to love photo-taking

2011-11-27T23:07:00.002+08:00

Since young, Yu dislikes photo-taking and it is very difficult to get him to pose for the pictures. At a recent trip at Orchard, he surprised me by asking me to take photos and he even joined me when I wanted to take a solo picture. Here are the photos:

Yu joined me in taking this photo when I wanted to take a solo picture.

Yu loves writing

2011-11-25T21:21:00.001+08:00

I have started Yu on writing exercise starting from 18 Nov 2011 because I noted that he tends to start a sentence with small letters and likes to use capital letters in the midst of sentences. I wanted to correct these habits before he starts Primary School.

I am happy that he has since developed a interest in writing. Tonight, Yu told me he was tired. When I asked him to sleep early, he told me that he would like to do writing before he sleeps. I asked him not to write because he was tired but he insisted that he will just write 2 sentences. He wanted me to accompany him when he writes because he needs me to spell the words that he does not know.

When he writes, he refused to make changes to the letters that he wrote wrongly because it will make his work “ugly”. In this activity, I trained him in 2 areas:

To always start a sentence with a capital letter
Not to write a capital letter in the midst of a sentence or word

As he loves to compose his own sentences instead of copying from book, this also trains his composition skill.

What Yu thinks of his daddy:

From the sentence constructed, I also took a glimpse of what he thinks. Here are what he wrote about his daddy:

Papa always wastes money
Papa is a pig that sleeps very late

What Yu thinks of me:

I was curious what he thinks about me and asked him to write about me. The first sentence he said is that “I love mama” and he wrote down “I love mummy very good”. He meant “very much” and this really touched my heart. The next sentence he wrote was that "My mummy is clever in Maths." Haha, this is what he thinks of me. Unlike for his daddy, he did not write anything bad about me. He is a diplomatic boy whom will not reveal his true feeling.

画作精致了 - Part 2

2011-11-14T22:35:00.004+08:00

我喜欢拍摄裕未上色之前的画作，因为我可以清楚地看出画作的线条，感觉出跟他以往不同的画作风格。你可看出画作更精细了。

裕长大了！

2011-11-14T21:14:00.006+08:00

最近，我发现裕爱收藏他的物品在橱房柜子。这包括给沙巴堂哥与堂姐的画作和乒乓球拍。至于为何选择橱房柜子，这可能因为我们把他的贝壳都收在这里吧。

我本想买一个橱柜给他，但因为快要搬家而作罢。这个周末大扫除，我终于搬空两个抽屉，让他拥有一个私人空间。裕兴奋地把东西都移进抽屉。我突然有一个感觉，就是我的裕长大了。

以下为裕收藏的东西：

这包括：

他的私房钱！！！
玩具枪与子弹
从沙滩捡回来的贝壳(3 罐)与小石子(2罐）
Angry Bird 日记簿
玩卡(Batman & Superman)
钥匙扣
黑帽子(K2毕业典礼道具)
给沙巴堂哥与堂姐的画作
乒乓球拍

裕也开始把一些玩具归纳为他的，而放在自己的位子。这包括Power Ranger 和玩具车。

Xuan uses my method to read 2-digit numbers

2011-11-11T20:56:00.009+08:00

It is always a joy to teach Xuan. You will see him practicing what you teach him. As he tends to read number from right to left, e.g. reading 24 as 42, I have taught him to cover up the right digit to read out the tens, then move away the finger to read out the ones. Tonight, he first surprised me by taking the initiative to read out the page numbers of a book and next surprised me by using the above method that I taught him when reading the numbers.

Tonight, I was trying to read the new elephant book to him. Xuan surprised me by pointing to the page number 24 and reading it out correctly. He was in the mood and continued reading out the page numbers all the way up to 47 by himself. When he read, he used one finger to cover up the right number to read out the number. For example, for 24, he will cover up 4 and read 2 as twenty, then moved away his finger to see 4 and read out “4”. And he used this method for all page numbers that he read.

I am happy that Xuan is now keen in reading out 2-digit numbers when he sees one. In fact, on 9 Nov 2011, he also took his initiative to try to read the price ($55.75) when he saw the price tag of the milk powder in NTUC supermarket. I hope that he can read any 2-digit number correctly in no time.

Starting from 13 Oct 2011, I have been teaching Xuan reading of 2-digit numbers without a number chart almost daily using cute pictures and he is beginning to lose interest in these cute pictures. His new interest in reading out numbers on his own will save me a lot of time in preparing new teaching tools.

Yu made a tank!

2011-11-09T20:29:00.006+08:00

Tonight, I was teaching Xuan 2-digit numbers in the bedroom. Yu came in and asked me to go out to take a look. He has built something with wooden blocks. I did not get it initially until Yu told me it is a tank and wanted me to take pictures from the other angle.

I am happy that he starts to be creative. I have bought him the wooden blocks since he was very young but he seldom plays it.

Here is the tank that he built:

Yu earns his first $2

2011-11-08T21:23:00.004+08:00

It is difficult to get Yu to do thing if he is not motivated. When he asks to read books, it is not because he is interested in reading, but because he wants to play games. And he often goes downstairs to play with neighbours at evening time. After playing downstairs and back at home after 7pm, he still does not study and when asked to read books or do Math worksheet, he will find excuse, like wanting to eat bread. Recently, the excuse includes doing drawings for his Sabah cousins.

To me, the time that he spends on study is too little. In thinking hard of how to get him to pass time meaningfully, I suddenly thought of getting him to come up with Math teaching ideas and tools. I need these for my Math website and I hope that he can inspire me with new ideas. I also hope that this will cultivate his interest for Math.

Yu loves money and pays attention to things related to money. For example, he asked me to buy "Treasures of the earth" magazine and kept the "gem" in his personal space. He also collected sea shells with the aim of selling it.

To educate Yu that ideas can sell, I told him that I will pay him $2 for coming out with ideas to teach Xuan Math. He immediately asked for paper and Angry Bird stickers and started his work. He was willing to sit still, focused and finished his work. Here is the counting chart that he had come up with:

I noted that Yu is not very creative as he tends to arrange things in a systematic way, like me :p. In this work, he arranged the stickers row by row. The text "1 to 6" in the box means this is the chart for numbers 1 to 6.

And here is how to teach using the number chart: Cover up the number in the box and let Xuan count the angry birds. After Xuan finishes counting, reveal the answer to see if the answer is correct.

Let's see whether Yu will continue to come up with more Math tools on his own will to earn extra money, which I think he will.

裕较会说华语！

2011-11-07T23:21:00.001+08:00

6 years 8 months 4 days old

Today, Yu reads 孙悟空大战红孩儿to me. This is a story book published by China publisher and contains many different characters. I was surprised that he can read most of the words, despite not practicing to read it for a long time. Recently, I revised with him by reading it to him just once and yet, he still can read it. For those words that he does not know how to read, he tries to use hanyu pinyin to pronounce it. For other words, 他认字 to read them out. I am glad that I have given him a good Chinese foundation, thanks to past effort at making him read lots of chinese books starting from 4 years old. I do not foresee him having any problem in Chinese when he is in Primary 1 even though he did not learn hanyun pinyin at home and only learned it in the school.

For second semester of this year, his K2 Chinese teacher assessed that his Mandarin has improved a lot, in that he can now express himself using Mandarin. As compared to the 1st half-year, he scored "very good" in the following 3 areas, which he scored just "good" in the 1st half-year:

能用华语与人交流，语言较完整，流畅，用词较准确。
在交谈时能有顺序，连贯地表达自己的想法。
能运用一些词汇和较完整的句式来瞄述事物。

I did noticed that his Mandarin has improved in that he communicates with me in Mandarin more often than in the past and his Chinese vocabulary has increased.

Here is 许老师's assessment:

Of course, his current standard is not up to my standard and there is still a lot of room for improvement in his spoken Mandarin. My next target is that he can speak purely in Mandarin, without using any English words to express part of the sentence.

画作精致了

2011-11-07T22:37:00.008+08:00

裕学画两年。我觉得他似乎没学到什么。因为画画班太大了，老师根本顾不了这么多人！他在家也懒得画画。但他竟然勤于画画给他沙巴的堂哥与堂姐。

裕很响往跟沙巴的堂哥与堂姐玩。为了在来临的假期跟他们见面，他常在晚上作画给他们。至今已画了多幅作品。

我发现他的笔划细致了。你自己看吧！画作以火箭为主题。

轩顾哥哥!

2011-11-05T19:36:00.001+08:00

(1) Xuan cares for his brother.

This afternoon, I brought Xuan to Universal Studio. Yu did not go as he prefers to stay at home. We could not go in because today is a block-out date. To pacify Xuan, I bought him his favourite snack from 7-11. Later, I bought him the whipped potatoes from KFC. He preferred to eat at the KFC restaurant. After he finished eating, we proceeded to the Imbiah station to go home. On the way to the station, he asked me: "Can you buy hotdog for 哥哥?" I was delighted that he cares for his brother. He remembers what Yu likes and wanted me to buy hot dog home for Yu. 他不会只顾自己。

(2) Xuan acts promptly without being called upon.

Xuan was watching Yu playing computer game this evening and I was having dinner at the dining area. I shouted across and told Yu to turn the fan to blow both of them because the mosquitoes might bite them without a blowing fan. In the end, Xuan was the one who came down from the chair to turn the fan around.

Yesterday evening, when I was reading book to Yu and wanted to get iPad to check the pronunciation of a word, I asked Yu to go to the bedroom to get it. Xuan who was playing nearby immediately went to get it for me. I like this character of Xuan. He does not need me to call him to do things and will act promptly on his own.

(3) Xuan is stingy.

This afternoon when we were queuing up to pay at Giant supermarket, I passed Xuan the Ribena drink. When I requested him to share the drink with me, he said: "Wait!" Guess what, he continued to drink it until there was no more drink. Then he passed it to me and still told me that there was no more drink.

He is also stingy with Jenny. Yesterday after Jenny bought him his favourite lobster cracker, he told Jenny: "You don't eat. I want eat all." Xuan is close to Jenny whom takes care of him since young. Yet, he is still stingy with her.

(4) Xuan remembers what you teach.

It is a joy to teach Xuan as he remembers what you teach. He requested to buy a mini-monorail key chain and I taught him how to read the price. After back home, he told Jenny that the monorail costs "50 cents and 9 dollars". Haha, he got the numbers correct but the units wrong. The key chain costs $5.90.

Just like writing the number 4, he has difficulty writing the slanting line and I teach him to draw dots and then join the dots with a line. Till now, he still uses this method to write 4.

Me - "A very supportive mum"

2011-11-01T22:05:00.005+08:00

I met up with Teacher Trisa for year-end parent-teacher's conference. I thanked her for teaching Yu well and went on to tell her that Yu insisted to wipe up the icecream that he dropped on the road at an outing and this surprised me. At the end of the session, I thanked her again by commenting that Yu is so fortunate to have her as his teacher. These are heartfelt thanks because Yu has picked up vast new knowledge from the class and it seemed to me that teacher Trisa has prepared her lesson well.

On hearing that, Teacher Trisa reciprocated by commending me as follows:

You are really a very supportive mum. You really help him out. If without you, actually he will not have build up his vocabulary in this manner. If without you, he will not have the tenacity to learn, or even the capacity to learn. It is because you invest time with him. If you did not invest time with him, the child will be lost.

I am happy that the time and effort that I spent on educating Yu 有成果 and teacher thinks that I have contributed significantly to Yu's development.

Written: 7 Nov 2011, 10.10pm

先斩后奏

2011-10-31T22:18:00.001+08:00

轩将来可大可小。性格象他爸爸，不遵守规则，先斩后奏。今晚他要求在吃粥后吃十片薯片。我因为他今天已经吃了很多，所以只允许他吃三片。在他吃完粥后， Jenny 叫他问我可以吃薯片吗？他竟然没来问我，就擅自坐在客厅吃起薯片。Jenny 去查探时才得知而来向我报告。我出去骂他时，他一脸笑脸，不当一回事，真是令我又爱又恨。

Xuan @ 3 yrs 8 mths old

2011-10-26T18:28:00.002+08:00

Height=104cm, Weight=16.4 kg

Math:

Xuan can read all 100 numbers from chart very well and he can do subtraction within 5 (i.e. 5-1, 5-2, 5-3, 5-4, 5-5) using fingers. He can also write number 4, 44, 10 and 100. He has yet to achieve the following:

(a) Show 6 to 9 fingers in random. That is, he can show 1 to 10 fingers in running order but when prompted for say 6 fingers, he does not know how to show.

(b) Read any 2-digit number when shown.

I also started to teach Xuan concept of “less than”.

He is learning to read any 2-digit numbers without a chart. He tends to read the numbers from the right. For example, he will read 19 as 91 and 26 as 62. He can read 11 to 20 except 12 and 20 when these numbers are shown alone (as in Humpty Dumpty toy) but when mixed with other numbers, he will get confused and read 19 as 91 (as on 26 Oct 2011).

I also teach addition using an effective method that I just thought on 26 Oct 2011. The method makes counting easy for Xuan as he just had to place all fruits into the containers and read out the answer from the last container. I hope that this can speed up his learning of addition.

I have taught Xuan subtraction first as the concept can be easily introduced using bowling game. Now Xuan is more familiar with subtraction than addition.

See this blog post for videos on Xuan's Math achievements at 3 years 8 months old.

Reading:

This month, I attempted to teach Xuan reading. I let him read his school textbook “I am playing” and “Pets”. Instead of reading the words, he just looked at the pictures to come up with the sentence. He can remember the sentences because the sentence structure is fixed for each book. For example, “The cat is here.” and “The dog is here.”

First stage performance:

Xuan remembered all the steps and he danced well. See this blog post.

Very scared of his daddy:

When we were at Sentosa, I asked Xuan to follow his daddy to 7-11 to buy his favourite snack. When they were back, I was surprised that Xuan came back with a bottle of drink instead. I checked with hubby and he replied that he thought that Xuan wanted a drink and Xuan did not ask for the snack. (19 Oct 2011)

Nowadays, it is difficult to get Xuan to take afternoon nap. On 21 Oct 2011, on knowing that his daddy is coming home, he asked to sleep so that he can play with his daddy when he is back. Xuan still looks forward to his daddy's return despite not staying together.

Best friend:

Xuan is very close to Veanna. When drawing, he will ask to draw Veanna together with him. For this reason, I have taken a long time to consider whether to switch him to the afternoon class for year 2012 because I do not want a drastic change to his life (change in both teachers and classmates).

Still refused to eat rice:

I felt heartache seeing that Xuan is so thin. But I really do not know what to do to solve this problem. Recently, we made two attempts to feed Xuan rice because he was 3 years 8 months old but is still drinking milk and eating only porridge for food. I worried about his nutrient but he simply refused to eat even though I caned him and his daddy forced him to eat.

Afternote on 18 Nov 2011: After meeting teacher Tramell, I resumed my effort at feeding Xuan solid food on 15 Nov 2011. Knowing that he is very scared of his daddy and he prefers food a bit wet, I asked Jenny to prepare such food and insisted that Xuan must eat the macaroni, otherwise his daddy will feed him. On hearing that and after long struggle, he finally gave in and started eating. Though he cried at every meal, I insisted that he must eat.

Xuan writes 4, 44, 10 and 100!

2011-10-23T22:05:00.005+08:00

This morning, Xuan came to me and showed me what he wrote on a magnetic white board. It was a nicely written number 4!!! I quickly took a picture.

He was enthusiastic and continued to write number 44, 10 and 100 on his own.

I was happy that Xuan enjoys writing numbers! He has learned to write numbers using the time table iPad game and this was the first time that he wrote numbers with a pen.

When he wrote 4, he followed what I taught him by tapping to create 2 dots and then drawing a line to join the dots. I would say that he can write 4 very well.

Xuan's Math milestones @ 3 yr 8 mths

2011-10-20T19:26:00.009+08:00

I am very happy with my new achievement. At just 3 years 8 months old, Xuan can now read 1 to 100 from number chart very well and he can do simple subtraction 5-1, 5-2, 5-3, 5-4 and 5-5 using fingers.

Reading 1 to 100 from chart:

Showing 1 to 10 fingers:

Doing simple finger subtraction:

First stage performance - Xuan

2011-10-09T16:50:00.005+08:00

Xuan attended PAP pre-nursery class and it was the first time that Xuan was performing on stage.

Unlike Yu whom does not remember his dancing steps and needed to watch his classmates for the steps, Xuan remembered all the steps and danced with confidence. But, things just did not go smoothly for him. At the rehearsal, his head band slipped down his forehead and covered his eyes.

At the actual K2 graduation concert, his hand was stuck in the sleeve and he stopped dancing to try to get it out. In the end, teacher Tramell had to come forward to help him out. After which, he continued dancing.

I couldn't stop laughing when Xuan's hand got stuck in the sleeve and he refused to dance until his hand was out of the sleeve!!!

I felt that Xuan has talent and interest in music and it was a waste that he stopped attending music lessons. Xuan attended Yamaha Music School from Apr 2011 to Sep 2011 and I stopped the lessons because he was no longer enthusiastic in the class and he actually asked to go home in the midst of the class at the last lesson. I was puzzled with his different behaviours at School outings when I noted that he followed how the teacher danced and he danced well. I planned to find new music lessons for him.

Yu plays table tennis

2011-09-27T21:03:00.004+08:00

Yu took part in "bounce-the-ball" competition at the STTA Table Tennis Carnival and the whole family went to support him. The venue is United Square Shopping Mall.

In this game, each participant is given 3 table tennis ball and each will stand within a hula hoop and bounce a ball continuously. A station-master will count the number of bounces made. This will continue until the first ball drops out-of-play, where player then continues with the 2nd and 3rd ball.

Yu attended table tennis class every Monday and I always wonder how he is playing. Finally, I got a chance to see for myself. In this video, a table tennis ball is automatically shot to the player. While I was recording, I can't stop laughing as Yu kept batting the balls way out of the table. See for yourself:

Xuan's 1st milestone in 2-digit numbers

2011-09-26T21:31:00.007+08:00

3 years 7 months old

I was exhilarated! I have just started teaching Xuan how to recognize numbers 21 to 100 and tonight, he can read most of the numbers. For the first time, he pronounced the tens as 30, 40, 50, 70, 80 and 90 correctly and for these tens, he is the one who reads them correctly after saying 29, 39, 49, 69, 79 and 89.

Here is a summary of my experience. Using Thomas & Friends number chart, I could not get him to read the numbers. So, I took great pain to paste, laminate and cut out angry bird cards and recite the 100 numbers aloud to him while placing one card on the table at a time. I did this without showing any number to him. He is usually interested in this activity because he gets to pick one angry bird card in the end. Here are the angry bird cards which I used:

I then moved on to preparing a number chart for 1 to 100. The Thomas & Friends number chart could not be used because there are 8 instead of 10 numbers in a row and the patterns in the numbers cannot be seen. I pasted Xuan's favourite cartoon characters on the number charts to catch his attention.

I created the number chart on 16 Sep 2011. In just 9 days' times, he can recognize the tens and can recite almost the entire sequence of 100 numbers by seeing the numbers!!! That was amazing and I am very happy with my new achievement!

Before that, I have to tell Xuan the first number before he can continue with the rest of the numbers in the row. For example, if I start with 41, he will recite 42 up to 49 and then stop to wait for me to read out 50. Tonight, he looks at the number 50 and says out the number by himself.

I never expected Xuan to pick up the 100 numbers so fast at the age of 3 years 7 months old. I am still struggling with teaching him 11 to 20 as well as simple addition and subtraction.

The next milestone for 2-digit numbers will be to recite all 100 numbers without looking at the number chart.

Afternote on 20 Oct 2011: Xuan can read all 100 numbers from charts very well as on 20 Oct 201.

Xuan's math milestones at 3 yr 7mths

2011-09-26T19:18:00.012+08:00

Thanks to Angry bird and iPad games, I am able to teach Xuan a lot more Math concepts. These are the Math games that I downloaded and referred to in this post:

Here are Xuan's math milestones at 3 years 7 months old:

(1) Counting

- Xuan's counting has improved significantly ever since playing iPad counting games ("KidsCounting", "Counting101" and "Toddler Math"). He can now count object in random order correctly most of the time in that he pays attention to counting the items systematically in lines and not to miss out any item. He will also not count an object twice most of the times.

- Using these games, he gets to know that for large number of items (up to 20), the last number is the actual count and he will tap the correct answer from one of the 3 values provided .

- He dislikes counting game ("Toddler Math") which requires him to count without showing the numbers as he counts and he considers this game “difficult”.

(2) 2-digit numbers

(a) 100 red angry bird cards: It took me a lot of time to paste, laminate and cut out the angry bird cards but it is worth the effort. I managed to get Xuan to recite with me 1 to 100 (without seeing the numbers) many times, before he gets to choose one of the angry bird cards. I place one card at a time while saying out the number.

(b) 1-100 number charts: I pasted Xuan's favourite cartoon characters to attract his attention and I managed to get him to repeat after me to read out the 100 numbers using the number charts on several occasions. He has difficulty pronouncing 31 to 39 correctly and pronounced them as 41 to 49. I am very happy that Xuan can read the tens (30, 40, 50, 70, 80 and 90) by himself for the first time on 26 Sep 2011. See this blog post for more details.

(3) 11 to 20:

Xuan now recites from 11 to 14, instead of missing 13. But he still jump from 14 to 16. He likes to play the puzzle iPad game ("iKnow1-100") where he taps on 1 to 20 in sequential order to reveal the pictures underneath. He also likes to play 2 games ("Kids Math" and "UnderSea Math") which he said they are “easy”. In these 2 games, he learned to recognize 11 to 20 because I will be the one working out the addition and provide him with an answer for him to tap on. He can now recognize 13, 15 and 20. As on 25 Sep 2011, he can read 11 to 20 correctly when shown these numbers.

(4) Addition and subtraction:

Using iPad games ("For kids" and "eduDice"), I aimed to teach the concept of + being “put everything together and count” and – being “taking away and don't count items marked with cross”. I point to the + sign while saying “plus”.

(5) Time table for 2:

Xuan likes to play time table game and I always recite the time table for 2 to him before he writes out the answer on the writing pad.

(6) Reading of dice:

Previously, Xuan knows how to read 1 to 3 dots but has difficulty differentiating between 4 and 5. With a dice iPad game "eduDice", I believed that he can recognize 4 to 6 now. He will tap the dots on the dice while iPad reads out the number of dots.

(7) Finger play:

Previously, Xuan knows how to show 1 to 5 using fingers, but I have difficulty extending the numbers to 6 to 10. I then changed strategy and teach him how to show 1 to 10 using fingers all at one go, instead of separately. Using this technique, Xuan has picked it up very fast. He now specifies 4 potatoes chips while showing me 4 fingers.

Xuan@3 yrs 7 mths - great advances in education

2011-09-26T19:01:00.000+08:00

Thanks to technologies, teaching Xuan is now very much easier. In the past, I have made many attempts to teach Xuan using books, including reading story books and teaching vocabularies using pictionary with his favourite cartoon characters Little Einstein. But he is usually not interested and it is very hard to grab his attention, especially when Yu is around. I am really stuck at how to teach him.

Things started to take a twist when Xuan asks to read books in exchange of playing Angry Bird game. He takes the clues from Yu whom always asks to read books in exchange for a computer game. This gives me many chances to read books to him.

For Math, I sourced and downloaded Math iPad games which are suitable for teaching Xuan Math. So, this month, I made great advances in teaching Xuan through the use of technologies.

Here are what Xuan learned this month:

(a) Use of dictionary.com to pronounce a word

Xuan knows which icon to tap to launch dictionary.com. He needs my help to spell the word and he will search for the letters on the keyboard to key in. He can now find the letters on the keyboard quite fast.

(b) Surf Internet for images

Xuan knows which icon to launch Safari. He will key in the spelling of the word provided by me, after which he will tap the “Images” tab to see the images. Xuan likes this feature very much and he asks to see different types of images like transformer, angry birds, monorail, etc.

My initial intention is to interest Xuan to learn about capital letters through these 2 activities and I am glad that Xuan can now recognize the letters and at the same time, I have taught him to be technology savvy. He will ask “How to spell ...?” when he wants to find images of his favourite vehicles or characters.

Penultimate is a software for free-hand writing but I use it to interest Xuan to draw. He learns to change the colour of the pen, to erase and to flip the pages. He loves it and will draw angry birds on his own.

(d) Learn writing of numbers

Xuan likes the time table iPad game as there are trophies. I focused on teaching time table for 2. Xuan enjoys writing the numbers on the writing pad using his fingers and then checking whether his answer is correct by tapping on the eye icon. Using this game, Xuan learns to write 2 and 4 and he also learns to write 12, 14, 16, 20, 22 and 24 willingly. His written “2” looks like a “Z”.

(e) Math:

The most significant milestone is that Xuan can now show 1 to 10 fingers all at one go. Refer to this blog post for details.

Xuan learned new technologies!

2011-09-17T22:39:00.003+08:00

This month, I changed my strategy to teach Xuan. I no longer attempt to teach only Math. Instead, I introduce new things on iPad:

(1) Dictionary.com

When reading books to Xuan and I don't know how to read a word, I will let Xuan key in the spelling. The purpose is to let him recognize the capital letters. Now he knows the positions of the letters on the keyboard quite well and he will ask to "spell" a word. He recognizes the dictionary icon and knows the following steps:

(a) Delete the previous word by tapping backspace key.
(b) Key in the spelling of a word (with me spelling out the letters to him).
(c) Tab "Search" to find the word
(d) Tab volume icon to hear the pronunciation.

(2) Surf web
I teach how to find images on Internet. Xuan knows the following steps:
(a) Tap Safari icon to launch it.
(b) Key in the spelling of a word (with my help)
(c) Tap on Images to display the images

(3) Penultimate

This is a software for writing free-hand but I use it to teach Xuan to draw. The software allows different colours and thickness of the pen and an eraser is available to clear unwanted drawing. I first introduced this software on 17 Sep 2011 and Xuan is immediately interested.

(4) Time table for 2

Xuan is interested in writing out the result of time table for 2 and tapping the eye button to check if the answer is correct. Using this time table game, I managed to get him to learn to write 2 and 4 and he also practices writing 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22 and 24.

(5) Email
I showed Xuan how to email his Penultimate drawing to my iMac on 17 Sep 2011.

I am glad that I finally found ways to interest Xuan to study and it is still not too late to teach Xuan using these new technologies. Xuan has picked up a lot of new technologies this month.

Yu can use chopsticks!

2011-09-10T13:49:00.005+08:00

This afternoon, Yu called out to me excitedly. He has used the chopstick to pick up a prawn and holds onto it for a long time. He is excited with his achievement. So, I took this picture to record his new milestone. He picked up this skill from school as we did not train him to use chopsticks at home.

No more blocked nose!

2011-09-09T17:23:00.006+08:00

Yu at 6 years 6 months and 6 days old

Yu suffered from constant block nose and persistent cough since 2009 and most of the days, he was sick for the past 2 years. Seeing him in that state, it pains me a lot, especially when he coughed badly at night and was unable to sleep well. I prayed to Guan Yin, hoping that she can guide me to a doctor whom can cure his illness. And his health is all that I wish for and not an intelligent boy who is good in study but a bad health.

Incidentally, I decided to go to Taiwan (I forgot why I choose Taiwan already). And when I was there, I was introduced to deer placenta during one shopping trip. It claims to cure asthma effectively. It costs a bomb (nearly $1000 for 五两), but I decided that I will just buy and try it out on Yu.

Back in Singapore on 17 May 2011, Yu was on the dose for 2 months from May 2011 to July 2011. It worked well initially in that although Yu still has cough and blocked nose and needed to see Western doctor, he will recover after I gave him deer placenta at the later stage of the illness. I also noted that Yu's hand is no longer as cold after he took deer placenta.

When I described the good result to a family doctor whom we often see, she cautioned me that the deer placenta may contain a lot of steroid which is bad for the health. I was worried that there is really side effect and was thinking to send a sample to Health Science Authority for a check.

When Yu was again sick in Aug 2011 after he did not put on pullover during lessons in school, the deer placenta did not cure him and he coughed at night while sleeping. Finally on 18 Aug 2011, I brought him to see Dr Teo whom prescribed an antibiotic (Klacid Clarithromycin Granules for Oral Suspension 125mg/5ml) to him. The medicine was effective and he stopping cough on the first night that he took the medicine.

He was well since then. On 4 Sep 2011, we brought him to the water playground in the zoo. He was all wet as he enjoyed sliding in the water playground. I gave him hot Milo right after the water play and let him wear a pull over to keep him warm. I was going to see if he will fall sick as his body was cold after the water play and he played for quite long.

On the second day after the water play, he had slight blocked nose. I do not know whether he felt cold at the theatre in Universal Studio, but in my mind, I was thinking: Oh dear, he is going to fall sick again. But surprisingly, he is well till now.

Seeing that he is well for two weeks even without taking deer placenta, I assessed that there is no steroid in the deer placenta. So, I resumed giving Yu half a tea spoon twice a day starting from 3 Sep 2011.

After a long wait, I am very happy that Yu's health is much better in that he no longer has blocked nose for most of the days. It feels really good to see a healthy and happy boy!

Yu teaches me how to save money!

2011-09-08T19:46:00.002+08:00

Due to allergy on unknown trigger, Xuan has rashes all over his body and the rashes did not subside after two days. And Xuan started to feel the itch. I decided that I will bring him to see doctor the next day. Just before sleep, Yu suddenly told me to check whether Xuan still has rashes on the next day before I bring him to see doctor. He said otherwise "it is a waste of money." I was surprised to hear that.

All along, Yu is very mindful that we need a lot of money to pay for the new house. Thanks to his good knowledge of money and 5-digit numbers! He no longer asks to buy toys at outings and he is agreeable not to go to Sabah to save up $900 airfare for our new house. Recently, he even saves on my birthday present, preferring to give me $3.50 cash over buying a present because a present "costs more."

I gave him a small amount of money ($1.2o to $1.40) each day to save as a way to interest him to learn how to add dollars and cents. I believe that he knows that money is hard to come by because he can only save up $10 after at least a week.

He is money-minded in that he is interested in lucky draws and will take note of cash prizes on advertisements. I believe that he will grow up to be one whom knows how to spend money wisely, and hopefully not stingy.

Written on: 9 Sep 2011

"I am sorry!"

2011-07-29T19:41:00.004+08:00

Today, Xuan dropped his Angry Bird toy downstairs again. Yu came in the bedroom to tell me and Xuan followed. He said "I am sorry" for the first time which surprised me.

Then in the afternoon, Xuan purposely pressed the door-close button when Yu was entering the lift and Yu was hit by the lift door. When I met them at the lift and Yu told me about it, Xuan said "I am sorry" immediately for the second time.

This evening, I asked Xuan whether he dropped the Angry Bird card or toy and he told me: But I said sorry.

I wondered why Xuan started saying sorry. My guess is that he learned it at school. He probably thinks that if he says sorry, he will be free from scolding and caning. Hopefully, this will encourage him to tell me what has happened when he does something wrong, instead of hiding from me.

Yu admitted to Radin Mas PS

2011-07-27T22:01:00.008+08:00

Today is an important day. I received letter from Radin Mas Primary School to confirm that Yu is indeed going to that school for Primary 1 education. Finally, I can rest my mind.

It started last year when I started reading up website on Primary School registration and realized that there is a deadline for joining a school as parent volunteer. I went to Radin Mas to submit the form and was lucky enough to be called up for volunteer work soon after to help build a button mural. The school needed volunteers urgently that they even called up the new batch of parent volunteers registering their children in 2011.

With just this job, I managed to accumulate 40 hours of volunteering work at one go within two weeks. I have read from forum that some schools will conduct interview to select the parent volunteer and even if selected, there may not be enough jobs for parent volunteers to accumulate 40 hours. So, I must say I am very lucky not to have gone through the long and tedious waiting and stocked up the required number of hours at one go.

Next come the stress during registration phrase. There is no letter to inform parent the actual date of registration. Instead a booklet was handed to Yu via the preschool. I have received a similar booklet during a Primary School Preparation talk and I thought they are the same. So, I did not pay attention initially. Luckily, I still browsed through the new booklet and I discovered the date of registration for phase 2B to be on 18 and 19 Jul 2011.

As we have to attend a wedding dinner in KL on 16 Jul 2011, I did not stay long in KL and flew back to Singapore right on 17 Jul 2011. I also asked hubby to pass me his IC long ago, afraid that he might forget to bring back the IC near the date.

During the registration phase, I then monitored the MOE website closely. For phase 2B, there are 59 vacancies and I did not know the number of parent volunteers initially. I only get to know when I went to the school for registration that there are 40 parent volunteers. But there may be grassroot leaders registering too and hence, I felt relieved only when I saw from the website that there are 40 registrations, which means no balloting needs to be done.

As I did not know whether it is confirmed that Yu is admitted, I then called up the school on 26 Jul 2011 to double confirm that no phone call from school means that the admission is successful and we will be receiving confirmation letter by this week.

Finally, 我终于可以放下心头大石when I received the letter today. The long journey of getting Yu into Radin Mas Primary School finally ended.

Yu, you see. Mummy needs to do a lot of work just to get you admitted into a dream school which I think best fit your calibre.

Here is the button mural that I played a part in creating:

Photo taken after P1 registration.

Photo taken during volunteering work

"Don't tell mama"

2011-07-27T21:07:00.010+08:00

At age 3 years and 5 months old, Xuan already started to hide things from me so that he won't get scolding. Tonight after I was back home from parenting talk, Yu told me that Xuan dropped the angry bird toy downstairs. Then Jenny told me that when Xuan dropped the toy downstairs and Yu told her about it, Xuan's first response is to go to Jenny and said: "Aunty, don't tell mama." He did not stop pestering until Jenny agreed that she will keep it from me.

This was worrying. Xuan is scared of me caning him and as a result, he just hides things from me.

This is not the first time that he told Jenny not to tell me. On an earlier date, he asked Jenny "Don't tell mama." when he wanted to watch TV and Jenny asked him to seek my permission. He also said "Don't let mama know." when he asked to eat potatoes chips and Jenny asked him to seek my permission. Xuan is not law-abiding at all and in fact, he tries to bypass the law.

Hmmm, I will have a hard time ahead bringing up him.

Mum coming, take cover!

2011-07-23T20:58:00.003+08:00

Recently, Xuan has this habit of hiding under the table when he was in the wrong. Today, he spilled the Magnolia milk over an Art work and when I went out to the living room, he was already under the table. See this picture:

Two days ago, Xuan switched on the TV without my permission. When I shouted out his name from my bedroom, he switched off the TV and hid behind the bookshelf. When I went out to the living room, he retracted on seeing me and went under the IKEA table too.

Love letter from Yu

2011-07-21T21:58:00.006+08:00

Tonight at 10pm, I received a 'card' from Yu. On this card was written a very long message which expresses his love for me. He claimed that he loves me more than I love him. Here is what he wrote:

I love you mama and mama I really love you. You love me, right(?) and but I love you more and I have a happy day today. I love to go out with papa (and you)! I wish you that you can live 100 years old. I love you and on your birthday, I (you) will get $1 coin and how you did all that Math?

He ended this message with many pink hearts which represent his love for me. Here is a picture of the card:

I brought him to Universal Studio today which we had a fun time together watching Rock and Roll music performance and thrilling performance at the Water World. He loved this outing and that is why he had a happy day today.

On what triggers him to write the message, I really don't know. I was coaching him to do a Math worksheet tonight, where he suddenly wrote down "love you". On the next worksheet, he wrote down "I love you mama" together with a heart. After completing the two Math worksheets, he went to do his chinese worksheet from school. After which, he started to ask me the spelling of words. From what he asked me, I knew that he was writing message to me and I am really eager to read his message(我期盼想知道他写什么.) This is what I wrote in my diary before Yu handed me the message:

My dear son Yu is busy writing love letter to me outside. He kept asking me spelling like "years", "with" and "life" and I guessed that he is going to say that he wishes that I can live till very old. What touched me is his love for me. He dislikes writing but now, he is writing lengthy message to me and he is focused in doing this. Almost 20 minutes have passed and he is still writing outside (written at 9.52pm).

Yu spent about half an hour working on this card. He is really a filial son.

"I want to throw mama downstairs!"

2011-07-18T21:01:00.006+08:00

When I went out to the living room at 2+ pm, I was surprised to see Xuan already woke up from his nap. He was watching TV. When he saw me, he immediately stood up and went to switch off the TV. Then he walked towards me and asked “Mama, can I watch TV?”. Hmmm, at such a young age, 他已会明知不可为而为，先斩后奏再说.

Later, he sat on the mattress to watch TV and it is no good for his eyesight. Despite several warnings, he continued to sit on the mattress and he mumbled softly. I could not hear clearly and when I finally got it, I was shocked to hear him saying “I want to throw mama downstairs.”

I went to get the cane and caned him twice. He continued to refuse to move and I switched off the TV. He started to cry to seek attention from Jenny but I did not attend to him. Only after quite some time, Jenny attended to him that he stopped crying.

After we were back from Bukit Timah railway station, Xuan turned on the TV again. I called out his name but did not say anything. He is very smart. He knows what I mean and moved forward to switch off the TV again. Then he came forward to me to ask for my permission to watch TV.

轩会协商！

2011-07-16T21:47:00.002+08:00

At 3 years 4 months old, Xuan is already quite good in negotiating for a deal. Here are 3 examples:

(1) Negotiating to go to Taiwan

On 8 Jul 2011, I told Xuan that I will bring him gai gai (outing) tomorrow. He then told me “Go Taiwan”. It must be a memorable experience for him as he had told me this many times. When I told him we need a lot of money, he suggested to go by bus. I told him that we can't reach Taiwan by bus and must take an aeroplane to fly there. He then said “But we choose the small aeroplane”. I think he means taking small aeroplane is cheaper and I am happy that he has that instinct.

(2) Negotiating to eat potatoes chips

Xuan likes to eat potatoes chips. On 10 Jul 2011 when I brought him to NTUC supermarket for an educational tour, the first thing he asked for is to buy potatoes chip. I told him that he is having a cough and he can't eat potato chip. He then squatted down and refused to move. I walked away and this time round, he did not follow. I turned back and took a picture.

Later, when I showed him the potatoes chip in my basket, he finally agreed to make a move. On the way to car park, I still tell him he can't eat because he has cough. He then told me he will eat a lot of porridge and then eat potatoes chip. I agreed. Hmmm, he is a smart boy.

(3) Negotiating to go out:

On 16 Jul 2011, I was changing Xuan's shirt to bring him out to Haw Par Villa and was telling him that there are dark clouds. He knows that if it starts to rain, we will not go out. So, he told me: "But it (is going) to be sunny, sunny can go lah."

Speaking confidently

2011-07-14T21:11:00.005+08:00

Since young, I have felt inferior due to my poor spoken English. I shy away from stranger who speaks English and I feel awkward to speak English in front of colleagues. I spoke Mandarin during my training session at work and it looks weird too to mix Mandarin and English technical terms.

Today, I had to meet up a NTU professor to discuss the scope of a FYP project. Yesterday, I was worried about how I can bring across my idea to him. The main reason is that my colleague will be around and I am scared to 'lose face'. But, I decided that I will speak as normal, as if I am making phone call. And I did it. I was able to convey the message across using fluent English and I am happy with my new achievement - I can now use English to talk about work.

This is the result of my consistent effort of listening to 93.8 radio while I am driving. I started driving in 2008, probably 5 months after Xuan was born and now at home, I listen to Channelnews Asia programme while using my computer. All these effort paid off.

I am no longer afraid of making phone calls and I speak English throughout the conversations. Though there is still time where I can't find the right vocabulary, I no longer bother so much and I also don't quite bother as to whether my grammar is correct.

I am also no longer afraid of presentation. The trick is to find a room and keep practicing the presentation by reading it aloud many times the day before the presentation. I am not as stressed when told to do a presentation.

Now that I use English to discuss work, it is a great step ahead and I am hopeful that one day, I will use English to give training at work.

Clearing this hurdle, I will be a very confident person from now on.

Scared of bully

2011-07-14T20:51:00.004+08:00

This evening, Yu dare not go downstairs by himself to play with the children at the playground. This is unusual as he has been going downstairs alone since we were back from Sabah holiday in Feb 2011. He insisted Xuan to go downstairs together with him but Xuan simply refused because he was playing toy boat in water.

I sensed that something is wrong and asked if someone bullied him. He quoted a boy named Yang Hao. Yu said that Yang Hao will see him from his windows and come down to play with him. Apparently, Yu is afraid to be alone with Yang Hao. Yu said that when the gor gor downstairs is not around, Yang Hao will ask him to be the one chasing after him when playing catch. My maid further explained that Yang Hao always asks Yu to run errand because he is the youngest one and this includes asking Yu to go to the car park to pick up balls.

I then asked my maid to accompany Yu downstairs. Only then, Yu is willing to go.

On last Sunday, Yu refused to go to the other playground near my mother's place. According to my maid, there is a Malay boy there whom shouted at him and warned him not to play there. Though my maid accompanied Xuan to go there later, Yu still dared not go and preferred to stick with me doing shopping at the neighbourhood shops.

Hmmm, Yu is scared of bully.

满脑金钱

2011-07-10T22:06:00.000+08:00

Recently, I noted that Yu will pay special interest if it is related to money. For example, he noted the cash prize on advertisement at Giant Supermarket and indicated that he wants to win. He thinks of how much to sell his Art work when I told him that a good piece of Art work can command a huge sum of money.

I have mixed feeling to his new trait. I was worried that he might become money-minded and does things only for money. I have to keep educating him that if he is rich in future, do help out those needy persons. He is stingy with his money and refused to give my elder brother a treat although it costs him only 60 cents to buy a can of soft drink. I hope that this is mainly because he rarely sees this uncle and he is not close to him.

Though Yu loves money, he is willing to fork out his saving to help us pay for the new house in future. So, 我觉得安慰。

I strongly believe that he will grow up to be one who is thrifty and good in saving money, just like me.

When Yu was one year old, he had chosen a weighing machine when given a variety of items to choose from. This points to his future as a businessman. And I am one step closer to training him to be a businessman.

Here are the examples showing Yu's special interest in money:

To encourage Yu to learn drawing, I told him that a good Art piece can command a good price. He started to think how much he would want to sell his art piece and asked me if $20 is too expensive. He then lowered the price to $15. It is now easier to get him to do drawing as compared to the past.

When he sees big amount in the public, he would indicate that he wants to win the prize. On 9 Jul 2011, we were at Giant supermarket where he saw a $45,000 cash prize award. He said “Forty-five thousand, I want to win.”

He likes to go to the beach to pick up seashell. I wonder why and one day, he revealed that his teacher told him that there is a special type of shell which can be sold for a high price. But he refused to admit that he picks the shell for money.

He is mindful that I would need a lot of money when our new house is ready and he will agree to any suggestion that can help me save money. For example, he agreed not to fight with Xuan for the steering wheel when they are riding the toy van. He also quickly left the airport when I told him that the parking fee is expensive at airport (on 7 Jul 2011). He also did not ask to buy toy when I bought toys for my sister's son.

He would remind me of the pocket money that I am supposed to give him. He even helped me count my money.

He loves to see his money growing in the bank and he asked to update his bank book twice, once for banking in coins and once for banking in notes.

惜肉如金

2011-07-08T21:54:00.009+08:00

从小，轩就害怕跌倒，而会非常小心走路。他会注意马路是否湿滑，而小心行走。

上星期五，他在放学回家的路上跌倒了。回到家要求佣人粘两块胶布。下午带着他与资宇与绮去Bottle Tree Park捉鱼时，轩竟然因为脚伤而放弃了他喜欢的捉鱼活动，只坐在鱼池旁看。我猜想他一定是不想弄湿伤口，以免疼痛。

拉起裤脚以免触及伤口。

他走路时更是小心翼翼，一拐一拐的走，好象伤势很严重的样子，令我啼笑皆非。看以下录像，你肯定发笑！

走路时双手紧撑着脚走路。

最近，他因与裕赛跑去邻座公寓的游乐场而又跌倒了，伤到膝盖的旧伤口。昨天，当我要抱他去看医生时，他拒绝走路，而让我一路从家里抱到国大医园，令我不禁发笑。一个小男孩竟如一个女孩般疼惜自己，实属少见。

掩盖犯错

2011-07-08T13:53:00.003+08:00

回到家中发现轩站在一个橱柜前，挡着不肯让我打开它。心觉得奇怪，以为他收藏了什么宝贝，却没去探索他到底收了什么，就去吃饭了。

不久，佣人告知轩不知打破了什么玻璃瓶，地上到处是碎片。最后，佣人在橱柜里发现一个支离破碎的迷你鱼缸装饰品，我才恍然大悟，原来轩害怕被责骂，不敢告知打破玻璃，而自行把玻璃放在橱里。

看到那么破碎的玻璃瓶，我们赶紧检查轩是否受伤。最后发现他的中指被割伤了。应该是从客厅把破璃瓶移去用餐范围时被割伤的。

值得庆辛的是，他并没踩到玻璃，否则后果不堪设想。

没想到他年级轻轻就会掩盖错误。荣说这是天生的。看来，对他我不可太严厉，应该鼓励他与我分享他的问题，以后才不会铸成大错。

Yu's math milestone at 6 years 4 months old

2011-07-03T21:18:00.001+08:00

I continue to reinforce what Yu has learned last month and hence, the list here is basically the same as those listed last month. The new capability he acquired is that he now knows factors of small numbers up to 14 well.

(1) Money:

Yu is now very good at adding dollars and cents involving 5 cents. He had no problem adding mentally the sum $6.55+$2.85 although he finds it tough. Note that this type of sum involves conversion of 100 cents to $1.

He can also do subtraction of dollars and cents from $5 and $2 correctly without long working. That is, he can write down $1.50 for $5 - $3.50 immediately via mental calculation of $5-$3, then $2-$0.50.

He used to miss out the $ sign but on 6 Jul 2011, he wrote down all $ sign first for the sums.

(2) Fractions:

He continues to learn conversion of improper fractions to mixed number (e.g. 7/3 = 2 1/3) without a picture. That is, write 7/3 = 3/3 + 3/3 + 1/3 to get 2 1/3 instead of drawing pictures. But picture is often needed to explain the first question.

He knows factors of small numbers well in that he can write down the factors directly, although he may miss out some factors occasionally. When I checked with him how he does it mentally, this was what he told me for factors of 14: I start from 1. 1 can add up to 14, 2 can add up to 14, 3 cannot add up to 14, 4 cannot add up to 14. Hmmm, he fully understands the concept of fractions (New!)

(3) Subtraction:

When given subtraction with borrowing, he will pick questions which do not need borrowing at all to do first. Then he worked out the rest. He still needs revision for the first question. But he will work out the rest on his own. He now crossed out the digit first in the next place value first when borrowing before working out the answer for the current place value.

He is very good in computing e.g. 500 - 320 mentally too. He first does 500 - 300, then does 200 - 20 to get 180. He does not need a number bond diagram to help him (e.g. draw 2 circles under 320 and labelled them with 300 and 20 respectively, then do 500-300 and write down 200. Lastly, do 200-20.)

Date written: 6 Jul 2011

Close to 1000 visits in May and Jun 2011

2011-07-01T22:31:00.001+08:00

The number of visits to my website continues to climb to a record high of 993 visits in May 2011. This number has stabilized to around 1000 in Jun 2011. The statistics are as follows:

1 Jun 2011 to 30 Jun 2011:

1,018 visits, 2.55 pages/visit, bounce rate =71.71%, Average time on site=2.00, New visits=87.82%

1 May 2011 to 31 May 2011:

993 visits, 2.76 pages/visit, bounce rate =72.71%, Average time on site=1.32, New visits=90.94%

1 Apr 2011 to 30 Apr 2011:

797 visits, 3.03 pages/visit, bounce rate =68.01%, Average time on site=2.09, New visits=89.46%

Pat pat sleep

2011-06-28T22:21:00.006+08:00

Whenever I am angry, I will threaten Yu that he will stay with his daddy in Sabah. But Yu often rejects the idea, saying that his daddy will not pat him to sleep. I do not understand why this is an important factor for him until recently.

During this June holiday, Xuan slept on my bed whenever hubby was back in Singapore. Xuan slept in between Yu and me and as a result, I did not pat him to sleep. But because Yu slept very late during school holiday, he soon fell asleep without me accompanying him. To make Yu independent, I continued not to accompany him to sleep. Just before school re-opened, I noted that Yu still could not sleep until very late at 11pm. I soon realized that it is because I did not pat him to sleep.

Tonight, it was almost 10pm and Yu has not slept. When I patted him, he soon fell asleep.

There is once when I told him that he can play games all day if he stays with his daddy. He said he wants to play games but he also wants mama, which is me. Hmmm, he relies on me to fall asleep.

Nice drawings by Xuan

2011-06-25T20:05:00.005+08:00

It has been quite some time that Xuan did drawing and he impressed me with his two drawings this afternoon.

All along I know Xuan likes music and songs and I let him attend Yamaha music school to develop his interest in this area. I did not know that he is artistic too. This afternoon, he asked to draw and I passed him a set of colour pens. He started to scribble and the end product turned out to be a nice picture in my view. Here it is:

According to him, he is drawing mungousaur (I think he means humungousaur which is a Ben 10 character which he bought recently).

Later, he requested me to teach him how to draw a birthday cake. I have earlier attempted to teach him counting by asking him to draw candles on the birthday cake that I drew. Initially, he drew the candle light by dotting on the paper. This is the method which I used earlier because I thought that he won't be able to draw a candle light well. When I held his hand to draw a second cake, he added many straight lines for candles. What impressed me is his adding of candle light. They looked like real candle light to me.

The only thing is that Xuan still uses only blue colour for his drawing. He has used yellow for the candle light because I have used that colour for illustration.

Yu can count coins well!

2011-06-25T18:37:00.004+08:00

To encourage Yu to add dollars and cents, I have been giving Yu $1.20 a day for him to save. Yesterday, I encouraged him to save the money in the bank so that he can earn interest. He does not understand "interest" and I explained that he will earn $2 for $100 if he placed the money in the bank for a year. If he did not, there won't be extra money. As banking in coins will incur service charge, I asked him to count his coins and record the money and we will bank in the coins at the coin machine tomorrow.

I then recorded him on video. I am surprised to observe that he knows how to count the coins systematically. He adopted the following procedures which is what I intend to teach him:

Step 1: Process all $1 coins by arranging 10 $1 coins per row.
Step 2: Pick out all 50-cent coins. Pair up the coins and arrange as $10 per row.
Step 3: Form $1 by selecting only 20-cent coins.
Step 4: Combine 10 10-cents coins into $1.
Step 5: Combine 10-cent and 5-cent coins into $1.
Step 6: Process a 5-cent coin and 9 1-cent coins by counting 5, 6,...,14.

I am very glad that Yu pick up this skill on his own.

Xuan speaks more Mandarin!

2011-06-23T23:35:00.003+08:00

I don't know whether Taiwan trip helps to expose Xuan to Mandarin-speaking environment, but it is interesting to observe that Xuan speaks Mandarin more often nowadays. Just tonight at our 1-hour reading session, Xuan kept speaking in Mandarin to convey his message. Here are the Chinese sentences that he spoke when I was going through the pictures in a bullet train book bought from Taiwan:

(1) "Xuan 要坐飞机起飞了。":while pointing to a picture with aeroplane taking off.

(2) Respond with "是" instead of "Yes":

Xuan: I see the (bullet train) track every morning.
Mommy: 是吗?
Xuan: 是。

(3) Understand what I mean and replied in Mandarin.

Xuan was playing with the toy bullet train while I was reading the book and I asked him to put away the toy.

Mommy: 明天你可以在家里玩。
Xuan: 我要去the playground 先的。

(4) "这个是没有台湾的。": Pointing to a Taiwan bullet train.

(5) "我要坐台湾的(火车)。"

(6) "我要看这个。"

(7) "Xuan Xuan 要坐这个。": Pointing to a Korean bullet train.

(8) "这个是in Taiwan.": Pointing to a Japan bullet train.

(9) "我要看。"

(10) "我要什么的。": Xuan could not tell me what he wants and replaces it with "什么".

Lastly, when he saw the photo of a dog emailed to me from his daddy, he said "这是那个狗的。" He was trying to tell me: "This is a dog."

This is the first time that he used Mandarin intensively throughout a session and I am very pleased with this new development.

Earlier on 21 Jun 2011, he has started to use Mandarin more often. When I reached home from work, he told me "我要去beach。" When we parked the car in front of a bowling ball centre at East Coast Park, he told us "那个是那个bowling ball 的。" Lastly, when we were at Changi airport, he told me "我要ride two sky train的。" He now uses "我要" instead of "I want".

How to bring down high fever?

2011-06-22T21:59:00.008+08:00

I don't know whether it is coincidental. Both Yu and Xuan had high fever after water play. Yu got it after half-an-hour water play at Jacob's children garden whereas Xuan got it after half-an-hour water play at Vivocity.

For Xuan, the fever did not subside after taking brufen. Instead, the fever was back 6 hours later and I did not dare to give another dose of brufen because Dr Teo's instruction is 8 hourly. As the fever continued to climb higher to 38.9 degree celcius, I rushed him to NUH A&E to see doctor.

NUH A&E doctor told me that the most effective way to bring down high fever is to give paracetamal followed by brufen. When the child is having high fever, do not give brufen straightaway. First give paracetamal and see if the fever comes down after one hour. If after one hour, the fever is still 38 or 38.5 degree celcius, then give brufen. If fever is down after one hour, there is no need to give brufen.

In case we need to give brufen one hour after paracetamol, we will give paracetamol 5 hours later after giving brufen.

Paracetamol and brufen are two different medicines. But brufen has more side effects, like it may cause 胃痛.

The time interval between giving doses of paracetamol is 6 hours. For brufen, it is strictly no less than 6 hours whereas for paracetamol, it can be 4 hourly for just one day.

The timing for giving the 2 medicines are as illustrated below:
para (9am)--> brufen (10am) --> Para (3pm) --> Brufen (4pm)

At anytime, cold press is necessary. That is, to wipe the child with a wet towel.

In case of high fever, give para 6 hourly for the 1st 2 days, even if it is only slight fever. The fever is likely to remain high for the 1st 2 days and is expected to subside on the 3rd day. In case the child still has high fever on the 4th day, there is a need to bring the child to see doctor at A&E.

In the following cases, bring Xuan back to A&E:
(1) Has breathing problem
(2) Not eating well
(3) Still has high fever on the 4th day.

At 15.90kg on 22 Jun 2011, Xuan will take 8.33ml of paracetamol (120mg) and 5 ml of brufen.

First trip to Universal studio

2011-06-10T18:21:00.009+08:00

I have an enjoyable trip to Universal Studio with Xuan this afternoon from 2 to 5.43pm. It is enjoyable because everything is new to me and it was the first time that I experienced a 4D movie. I also accompanied Xuan to ride roller coaster and I swear that I will not ride it anymore.

I am glad that I have given Xuan a brand new experience – roller coaster ride, 4D-movie and live movie experience. I did not bring Yu along as he is no longer interested in outing and the annual pass for a child is expensive. I want to assess whether Yu will be interested before I get an annual pass for him. And my assessment is that Yu will enjoy the trip too.

Here is a summary of what we did at Universal studio in chronological order:

(1) Live song performance

When we reached, 4 men were singing and dancing. We sat down by the road side and watched the performance. Xuan loved dancing and singing.

Near the entrance

(2) Boat ride

We went on a river boat ride at the attraction Madagascar. The characters in Madagascar are talking and there are also special effects like bubbles and water fall. I enjoy the ride. So is Xuan.

(3) Roller coaster ride

The staff told me that the ride is safe for children. But at the actual ride, I was so worried that Xuan might fall off the track. I held his right hand and felt that I can't hold him tight. I think he was too scared that he can't smile at all. He is a brave boy as he did not cry at all although he is very scared.

This is the first time that Xuan took a roller coaster ride. I am surprised that Xuan would want to ride again when I asked him back home tonight.

(4) 4D movie

This is the first time that Xuan watched a 4D movie. He felt the water splash. You can also feel the wind as the characters are falling off the waterfall. The movie is attracting and it is showing the Shrek.

At the movie, I can feel something crawling on my leg when there are a lot of spiders on the scene. Too bad, Xuan is too short to experience this. I did not sit on the motion chair because I was worried that Xuan might be afraid after his maiden roller coaster ride.

Outside the castle showing the 4D movie

(5) Donkey live show

In the show, the staff communicated to the donkey on the screen. There is a technical glitch and we did not get to watch the full show. We were issued an express pass as compensation.

(6) Live water performance:

We watched a nice live performance based on blockbuster film, "Waterworld", where there is real explosions of fire and the show is filled with stunts. There is fire burning down the building, gun shooting and motor boat travelling on the water. There is even an aeroplane swooping towards us. The live performance was exciting to me. There were instances where the fire shooting is loud. I was worried that Xuan might be afraid and quickly hugged him and patted his chest.

(7) Merry-go-round:

On the way back to monorail station, we walked past the dragon roller coaster and Xuan stopped to watch the roller coaster. He also told me that there is a wolf which I did not get it initally. On closer look, the statue is really a wolf.

We then walked past a merry-go-round and I used my express pass so that we don't need to queue. Xuan chose to ride on the giraffe. He smiled brightly when the ride started and I loved the smile.

Xuan finally sleeps on my bed!

2011-06-08T19:27:00.003+08:00

Since young, Xuan is used to sleeping alone on his small bed. It is a mattress placed on the floor. I ever tried to foster a closer bond with him by accompanying him to sleep. But everytime I sleep beside him on his bed, he will point to my bed and wants me to sleep on my bed instead. He also refuses to sleep on my bed.

When he sleeps on his bed, he will wake up in the midnight for several reasons. Many times, he wakes up to find his toy. For example, he looked for his toy bullet train and wanted us to bring the toy to him. Another instance is to find Jenny to cover blanket for him. He refused to let me attend to him. He said “I don't know how to call aunty” and insisted me to wake Jenny up. He may also wake up from sleep when he dreamt of fighting for toys with Yu, saying “哥哥take”. This has disrupted our sleep and we may be waken up by up to 3 times a night. As a result, I felt tired when going to work.

I suspected that the above reasons are not genuine. The true reason could be that Xuan is now afraid of being alone and wanted someone to accompany him at night. The recent hot weather is another possible reason that Xuan could not sleep well.

Things changed on 2 Jun 2011 when hubby was back in Singapore. Due to hot weather, hubby wanted to sleep in the living room and he borrowed Xuan's mattress. Surprisingly, Xuan did not make any noise when hubby took his bed and that night, he slept on my bed together with Yu and me. He did so for the 3 nights that hubby was in Singapore. After hubby went back to Sabah, we asked Xuan whether he will sleep on my bed and to our surprise, he is agreeable and till now, he continued to sleep on my bed at night.

I use the night time as the bonding session between Xuan and me because it will take a while before he really falls asleep. I am glad that finally, Xuan is willing to let me sleep by his side.

Yu plays Monopoly game well!

2011-06-05T19:30:00.006+08:00

6 years 3 months old

Yu loves money and he likes to play the Monopoly game on iPad. Tonight while on the way to airport, hubby told me that Yu has beaten him in the monopoly game. He commented that Yu now knows the rules of the game well and he knows the strategies to win the game. Unlike in the past, hubby now cannot give chance to Yu anymore when playing the game with Yu.

I do not know the full set of rules and I requested hubby to write on what Yu is good at. Here is his writeup:

Shi Yu's skill in Monopoly has reached the level to play with any average adult who knows the basic rules of the game. He has been playing Monopoly “Here & now world” edition in the iPad. And he is actually very observant. I have 2 monopoly games in my iPad. The other is the iPad version “Monopoly HD”. One day he told me he doesn't like the monopoly HD as much. I asked why and prompted him whether it is because the graphic is poorer but he told me that the hotel is not as nice. I say is it? He said yes. Then I observe when I play. I realize that the world edition hotel is a red tall building that looks like a hotel and the HD-version hotel is just a red house.

He knows he has to get all properties in the same color before he can build house.

He knows that the dark blue color on the board is most expensive but pays much better.

He knows that property gets more expensive as he progresses through the board, with the most expensive one at the dark blue.

He has learned not to anyhow trade so as not to let other monopolize.

Even when he monopolizes one color, he learned not to spend all his money to build house and hotel. He will build carefully leaving some cash on hand in case he lands on others. While playing with him, I ask him to build more houses so he can get more $ when people land on him. He said no and he said that he knows I am trying to trick him! Damn he is careful. He has 4 million plus in hand. I tell him to build 2 houses at Montreal which cost 2 million each. But he is not willing, as if he does that he will be left with a few hundred K, which is very little in that game. He waited till he has 8 million then he builds.

He seems to know the board well. I throw 4 from Go and he said oh you land on income tax before the iPad moves to income tax.

I had taught him that the light brown group though not expensive, people land a lot on it. He had since remembered it.

He even learns on his own that when the board is filled it is better to stay in jail.

He knows how to trade with other to monopolize. But how is his trading skill I have yet to confirm.

From 1st look, his trading skill is quite decent (象样). I will think his higher chance to win the computer is not by chance. So if you play with him, you don't need to give chance. If not, you got no chance to win.

Anyway, he is a very detailed person. When he plays game, he did pay attention to the little thing that happens in it. For example, he takes note of minute details like what the person says before the person attacks in PSP game, even under all the music and sound effect.

He likes to play game, but to play a game well, you need to think and play like he does. Slowly I think he is starting to play game like any adult does. For example, recently I am playing “Tower madness” with him. I tell him I am stuck at one stage that I cannot win with perfect sheep. He asked what is the problem over the phone. I say I cannot kill the boss in time! He said put the gun that will stun him, that will buy you more time to kill him. The idea is there and he gets it straightaway, but how to implement it well is another thing.

Yu's Math knowledge at 6 yrs 3 mths old

2011-06-03T04:53:00.002+08:00

(1) Money:

(a) Addition:

Can add dollars and cents. e.g. $12.50 + $3.70 (involve converting 100¢ to $1)
Can add cents involving 5 cents. e.g. $0.35 + $0.40. Still learning how to express cents in dollar format.
Can add dollars and cents involving 5¢ (no conversion of 100¢ to $1 yet)

(b) Subtraction:

Can do $5 - $1.30 using pictures.
Can do $5 - $1.30 using shortcut. That is, do $5-$1 first, then do $4-30¢.

Can do mental calculation of addition of many $1.20.

(2) Fractions:

(a) Like fraction (existing knowledge):

Can add and subtract like fractions. (e.g. 5/8 + 2/8, 3/4-1/4)
Can compare 2 like fractions.

(b) Equivalent fraction:

Can derive equivalent fraction of any fraction without any revision (and no longer restricted to equivalent fraction of ½ and 2/3). That is, can do mental computation of the 2 steps involved. For example, for ¾ = ?/12, he will compute 4x3=12, 3x3=9 mentally and write down 9 straightaway.

Can add 2 related fractions. For example, ¾ + 7/12. Follow the algorithm:

¾ + 7/12 = /12 + 7/12 = 9/12 + 7/12 = 16/12. Did not proceed to simplify fraction.

(d) Improper fraction:

Learning to convert improper fraction to mixed number.

(e) Simplifying fractions:

Learning concept of factors.

Yet to learn:

Greatest common factor.

Simplify fraction by dividing numerator and denominator by the gcf.

(f) Fractions of a set:

Know the concept of fraction of a set but need reminder that the denominator is the total number of objects in the set instead of the number of remaining objects. For example, for 3 red and 4 green apples, the fraction of red apples is 3/7 which he may say ¾.

(3) Subtractions:

Can subtract two 3-digit numbers with borrowing. Still need practices to handle questions which does not involve borrowing for some place values.

Can subtract tens and 2-digit numbers using number bond method.
e.g. 50 – 13. Draw 2 circles under 13 and write 10 and 3 in the 2 circles. Next, do 50 -10 and write down 40. Write down “-3” and lastly, compute 40-3.

Xuan uses fingers to represent numbers!

2011-06-02T22:09:00.006+08:00

This afternoon, we went into the school to wait for Yu who was attending a Science camp. Xuan was attracted by the toy rockets placed on the table as prizes for the participant. He started to pester me, showing me one finger. He means that he wants one rocket from the many rockets on the table.

Later at the car park, he refused to get up the car because he wanted the toy camera as well which Yu was taking. He showed me two fingers for 2 toys (one rocket and one camera). Here he is:

This afternoon, I asked him to show his daddy how to use fingers to represent 1 to 5 and 10 and he did it. After that, I manged to record him on video using fingers to represent the 6 numbers.

Tonight, he wanted to eat the potato chips and he showed me 10 fingers! Hooray, this is the first time that he did so. I gave him only 5 pieces. After he finished eating, he came into the bedroom to find me and told me: “5 again” while showing me 5 fingers. He wanted another 5 pieces of potatoes chips.

Hmmm, I am very satisfied with my latest achievement: Xuan can use fingers to represent numbers at age 3 years 3 months old.

Xuan went out with his daddy alone!

2011-06-02T21:51:00.003+08:00

After back home from work, I did not see Xuan at the living room. I knew that he is not at home and was surprised to find out from Jenny that Xuan has gone out with hubby. This is the first time that he did so. In the past, either Jenny or I will have to follow him to go out with his daddy.

They went out at 10.30am and were back at about 12.30pm. Hubby said that he just asked Xuan for fun and did not expect Xuan to reply positively when he asked Xuan whether he wants to go to Vivocity. Xuan followed hubby to cut hair and then he rode the electrical toy car near Vivocity's playground for 10 minutes. These are also the 2 things that Xuan told me when I asked him.

I am glad that Xuan has grown up and is closer to his daddy.

Cyst in Xuan's testicle

2011-05-22T23:59:00.000+08:00

When Jenny was changing diaper to prepare Xuan to sleep, she discovered that Xuan's testicle was swollen. This is the first time that I encountered this problem and I wondered whether I should bring Xuan to see doctor immediately or wait till the next morning. Jenny advised to go to the doctor immediately as testicle is important to a boy.

We went to NUH A&E at 9 pm. There were a lot of children patients and we waited for a long time to see the doctor. The doctor examined and ordered an ultrasound of the scrotum to ensure that the testicle is not twisted. We then waited for the nurse to arrange for someone to bring us up to level 2. I sat on a wheelchair with Xuan on my lap and a staff pushed us up to level 2. On level 2, it was another long wait before the radiologist did the scan.

Xuan was too tired and fell asleep immediately when I placed him on the bed to do the ultrasound. He had not slept in the afternoon and this was why I asked Jenny to come along. I needed someone to carry Xuan when I was driving in case Xuan fell asleep. I didn't expect it to take so long. Yu had also fallen asleep outside the room. We went back to level 1 and waited to see the doctor again. I was shocked to hear that there is a cyst in the testicle and there is no medicine or medical cream to apply because the doctor does not specialize in this area. We will have to wait for a pediatric surgeon to assess whether a surgery is needed to remove the cyst.

And the bill was high. As the radiologist was called back from home to do the ultrasound, there is an extra charge of $150. The bill totaled $435.

We were back at home at 12.15am on 23 May 2011. Sigh..

Yu no longer stays by my side!

2011-05-20T20:35:00.000+08:00

People always say that when children grow up, they will have their own friends and they will no longer be by your side. For me, this day has come very fast. Yu now spends a lot of time downstairs, even though there is no one playing with him. He may go downstairs as early as 4pm and stayed there until 7pm. I was beginning to think that it was probably the time for me to work full time.

These 3 days, right after Yu was back from school, he asked to go downstairs to play. I wondered what he did downstairs and today, I saw him sitting by himself on the slide playing with the toy tree.

I don't know why there is such a change. But apparently, he dislikes staying at home now. He will bring his toy downstairs to play and at evening time, he will play Power Ranger computer game together with the boy staying downstairs.

K2 teacher's feedback on Yu

2011-05-18T20:36:00.003+08:00

Yu is gregarious (i.e. fond of the company of others; sociable)

He likes to share his thoughts with his classmates. He enjoys being with children. He likes to give advice when children are doing their work in the class but he does not speak nicely.

He has lots of intonation and articulation (Intonation = variation of pitch while speaking which is not used to distinguish words)

He is smart and lively. Chinese teacher also made the same comment "性格开朗，聪明活泼"

He can read and spell. He can recognize a lot of sight words. He can string the words (That is, he can put a few words together to make a sentence). In the class, only 6 to 7 students can read and string the words.
When showing Yu's 2D-artwork to me, teacher commented that Yu “done it nicely” and “he can do picture layout and add details.” He is the only one whom draws a pond near the elephant.

When teacher is teaching phonics (I think it should be Math instead), he will tell teacher that he already knows and teacher will tell him he can help out the friends.

When asked whether Yu teaches his classmates Math, teacher Trisa commented that when Yu teaches, his tone gets higher and some children dislike. He will say things like “You mean you don't know hah” and his tone gets higher. He used finger play and manipulative to teach his friends.

When asked whether Yu has self-esteem, teacher Trisa replied yes. When told he needs a lot of encouragement in K1, teacher Trisa commented that I have done well.

The only thing that teacher would like us to work on is the way he talks. He startles.

Assessment by chinese teacher:

K2 teacher's feedback on Yu - part 2

2011-05-18T11:27:00.007+08:00

The followings are notes written by teacher Trisa on her assessment of Yu in different areas:

(1) Self and social awareness:

Shi Yu enjoys interactive class discussions. He is able to contribute actively and will lead his peers into different perspectives of a topic.

Area of development: Social and emotional development

Shi Yu enjoys the company of his peers. He is talkative and will have many discussions and exchange of information during the course of a day (even during learning corner play time).

(2) Language and literacy:

Shi Yu is active during class discussions. He is able to contribute towards story telling and class project work.

(3) Numeracy:

Shi Yu uses many different strategies to count such as finger count or the use of manipulatives.

(4) Environmental awareness:

Shi Yu takes care of the materials in the classroom and knows where to place them for storage.

Areas of development: Thinking, reasoning and problem solving

Shi Yu works quickly and is able to organize the materials back to their proper storage areas.

(5) Aesthetics and creative expression:

Shi Yu enjoys different forms of media expressions. He gets bored with just drawing and colouring.

Shi Yu enjoys different forms of art expression. In this picture, he is seen applying pressure to the paper to do hand print. He enjoys fine motor activities such as cutting, rolling and twisting during craft work.

Yu has money sense

2011-05-06T18:46:00.005+08:00

I read from Young parent magazine that millionaire Jim Rogers gives money to his two daughters for saving and the elder daughter used the saving to buy Barbie dolls initially. When the 2 girls went to bank in money and she realized that she has lesser money than her younger sister, she stopped buying Barbie doll. I wish to learn from him and I started giving Yu money everyday for him to save.

This is in line with my aim of teaching him money involving dollars and cents. I want to teach him adding and subtracting of dollars and cents. I will give him $1.20 a day. He keeps track of the number of days that I do not give him money and will tell me how much money I owe him. For example, he will tell me "$3.60" for 3 days. I also give him a bigger note for him to give me the change. For example, I will give him $5 for $3.60 and he will have to give me back the change. And this gives me the chance to teach him subtraction of dollars and cents.

This evening when I was having dinner, Yu came up from the playground and asked me whether he can buy green tea drink from the vending machine downstairs. I agreed but asked him to use his own money. At the same time, I reminded him that the drink will be more expensive than buying from supermarket. Guess what? Finally, he drank the soft drink at home instead. Haha, I have succeeded in instilling money sense in him.

Close to 800 visits for Apr 2011

2011-05-02T21:11:00.009+08:00

I am happy. My Math website continues to attract more visitors and most importantly, more visitors are reading many pages of my website. In Apr 2011, I have a total of 797 visits, 3 short of 800. This is 23.4% higher than that for Mar 2011. But I was very satisfied with this result. Here are the statistics:

1 Apr 2011 to 30 Apr 2011:
797 visits, 3.03 pages/visit, bounce rate = 68.01%, Average time on site=2.09, New visits=89.46%

1 Mar 2011 to 31 Mar 2011:
645 visits, 2.05 pages/visit, bounce rate=74.11% , Average time on site=1.14, New visits=89.30%

After discounting 137 pages from my own visit when I transferred the articles to a new server on NewMedia express, the number of pages/visit = (2413-137)/796= 2.86 pages/visit.

Besides more pages per visit, the statistics indicate that visitor is spending more time on my website. I am also very happy that the bounce rate has reduced to less than 70%.

The trend continues in May 2011. For these 2 days, I have an average pages/visit of more than 3 pages, as shown below.

1 May 2011 (Sunday) : 20 visits, 65 pages, 3.25 pages/visit, bounce rate = 75%
2 May 2011 (Monday): 23 visits, 87 pages, 3.78 pages/visit, bounce rate = 69.57%, as of now.

I have a great sense of achievement and is very motivated to come up with more Math articles. I plan to set aside time each day to work on the website.

I now set a very high target for myself, which is to achieve 200 visits per day by year end.

Xuan guesses how to read a word!

2011-04-20T20:19:00.004+08:00

Xuan does not know how to read but from the Word World show, he knows that a word is made up of letters. Tonight, when reading “Colourful cars”, I pointed to the word “yellow” and spelt out the word to him. He asked to try and he spelt out yellow. I then pointed to another word on the left page and spelt out “blue” to him. After that, Xuan flipped to the next page and started spelling out each word representing a colour and pronounce it. What amazed me is that there are many words on a page and I actually did not point out to him which word means a colour. But, he knows that he just has to focus on the bold-printed word and then look at the colour of the vehicle to pronounce it. This impressed me!

Later when we read another book “The pumpkin patch”, he spelt out the letters in “map” as “w, a, p” and followed by pronouncing it as “map”.

Hmmm, Xuan is a smart boy. He knows how to make intelligent guess without knowing how to read the word.

Afternote: On 30 Apr 2011, Xuan brought in the frog puppet to me in the bedroom and spelt out "F, R, O, G, frog" while pointing to the letters on the frog's stomach.

Yu composed a love song for us!

2011-04-15T17:47:00.005+08:00

This afternoon, I went out to fetch my best friend Choo from hospital. After I was back at home, Yu requested to use my computer to key in chinese characters. I got his school textbook "好邻居" to let him key in. But he told me that he would like to write his own sentences. He then sang out a song to the tune of "两只老虎". I took a piece of paper and started writing down the words and the hanyu pinyin for him. He then followed the hanyu pinyin and started to key in into the computer with my help. Here is what he composed using NeoOffice:

我疼妈妈。

我疼爸爸。

我爱你。

你懂我爱你。

我很疼你。

我懂你。

This is the first time that Yu is composing a song for us (his daddy and me). And he used Mandarin! It was a pleasant surprise. I am touched by his filial piety.

Yu likes to procrastinate but he is very serious when keying this song in the computer. He sat still, focused and completed the song in one go. In all, he spent 30 minutes on this song. And after he completed the first song, he said he wanted to compose more songs. He counted in 3 up to 18 and then said "18+18 is 32". He wanted to compose 36 songs for us! I guided him to work out the correct sum and he followed by saying that it would take him 36 days to complete the whole song.

好人难做！

2011-04-12T21:19:00.006+08:00

I was upset!

Despite treating my FIL like my own father more than his own son, he did not appreciate me as a good daughter-in-law and still threw tantrum at me when I was not at wrong.

He called me up on Friday to help e-file income tax for his worker. In the end, the pin is not valid and we could not do the e-filing. Instead of leaving the problem to him, I called up the helpline to enquire about a solution. When told his worker has to go to the community centre to file the income tax, he got angry and started grumbling. He said that he is ill-fated and although he has many sons, there is no one who can help him and he has to do all things by himself.

When I brought the letters back to Yishun for him, he made the same complaint the second time. But in reality, who is more ill-fated? I have to do everything by myself since young and even after marriage, I still have to do everything by myself. Basically, 我包山包海大小事, including my hubby's role as a son.

And he blamed me for not telling him that it cannot be done earlier. In reality, I have reminded him very early in late Feb 2011. And he is the one whom gives us the document as late as one week before the deadline, such that the pin number becomes invalid. But in the end, it is still our fault.

I only have one thing to say: 人是不知足的，人是不可以太好。

Xuan gets the concept of matching by drawing lines!

2011-04-07T20:51:00.000+08:00

This afternoon, I have a fruitful 12-minute session with Xuan as it was the first time that I succeeded in teaching Xuan matching by drawing lines. I did not plan for the lesson and it happened by chance. I actually got ready the white board and wanted to teach Xuan Math using my DIY math tools. But Xuan is interested in using the chalk and asked to use the black board instead. After drawing Little Einsteins on his request, I drew shapes on the black board and started to teach him matching. I started with questions where he just needs to draw horizontal lines to match:

★★★ 3

△ 1

◯ ◯ 2

Initially, he refused to draw lines to match. But later, he started to draw and he did 2 sets of questions of this type. On the 3^rd time, I introduced the following types of questions where he will now draw diagonal lines:

★★★ 2

△△ 3

I showed him by drawing the line diagonally to match. Xuan is fast and he got the ideas on the first time that I teach. We then repeated this type of questions with more pairs. The tactics are:

Use only small numbers from 1 to 4 (as these numbers are what Xuan is familiar with)
Mention the quantity of the shapes instead of asking your child to count. Teach in the following ways: Say “I have 2 stars (with fingers pointing to the 2 stars). Match with number 2 (Point to number 2). Draw a line to number 2 (Demo by drawing the line).
Show only 2 questions each time.

Huh, you mean I can buy toy!

2011-04-05T16:07:00.005+08:00

Xuan likes to cry non-stop and this is one trait that irritates me a lot. And when he refuses to accede to your request, it is quite difficult to force him. Recently, I use a tactic to stop him from crying. I told him that I will buy toy for him. This tactic works for 3 scenarios:

(1) To attend first music lesson:

On the day of his first music lesson on 3 Apr 20110, Xuan refused to leave the house. In the end, Jenny snatched him and put him in the car. He continued to cry non-stop while in the car and I said: "Later see what toy Xuan Xuan can buy."

On hearing that, he immediately stopped crying. He enjoyed the music lesson so much that he forgot about it and we walked back to the car park right after lesson because hubby and I need to rush back to Yishun to go 扫墓。

(2) To see doctor:

Xuan was having bad running nose and this morning, I woke him up to see doctor. He cried non-stop again and called out for Jenny. I then promised him that we will buy iron man at the school. On hearing that, he followed me to the clinic. After seeing doctor, I did bring him to find toy iron man but we could not see one. He asked to buy toy train again but I rejected his request and went home.

(3) To take antibiotic:

In the afternoon, he refused to take the antibiotic and I told him that I will look for toy iron man in another shop. After he took the antibiotic, he immediately asked for iron man but it was raining and we did not go out to buy.

Hmmm, Xuan likes to buy toy.

Yu can compare two 5-digit numbers

2011-04-04T19:55:00.008+08:00

I just started to teach Yu 5-digit number in Mar 2011 by using the money game, where he can exchange one string of 10 small gold ingots with one big gold ingot. I have not started him on how to compare two 5-digit numbers but he has figured out that 5-digit number is bigger than any 4-digit number by himself. I judged this from what he said during the Monopoly game.

This afternoon when we are playing the Monopoly game (Singapore Version), he went through the title deeds that he owned and took out two cards. He checked with me the price of the hotel on the 2 cards and I taught him how to read $15000 and $20000 by covering up the 3 zeros and reading the 1st 2 digits. Yu then concluded that the hotel which costs $20000 is most expensive "because the rest don't have 5-digit number. The rest don't have 21, 22."

What he means is that the prices indicated on the title deeds for all except two hotels are 4-digit numbers and there are no hotels which cost $21 000 or $22000. So, the one which costs $20000 is the most expensive.

At bedtime, he also commented that 7300 is close to a 5-digit number when I told him that he will learn 7300 words in a year if he learns the spelling of 20 words a day.

I am happy! Yu has fully understood the place value concepts 10 000 and 1000.

My Math education is successful!

2011-04-04T19:21:00.007+08:00

Starting from when Yu was 4 years old, I have been working hard to build him a strong foundation in Math. This afternoon when we are playing Monopoly game, I got a card which requires me to pay $250 for each house that I have. I had 9 houses and I wrote down 9x250. On seeing that, Yu 迫不急待 wanted to help me work out the answer and he said: "I know."

He started to think and after a while, he put up two fingers at a time while counting in 500. He said “500, 1000, 1500, 2000, 2150”. He was wrong in adding the last number mentally, but I hugged him and praised that he is clever. He was happy and started to tell him how he worked it out. “I just see two 250 make up what (number). So, if 500, I make up 2 (fingers). Last one, I just add up 1 (250)”. This is exactly what I have planned to teach him and he surprised me by coming up with the correct method on his own.

I am very pleased with Yu's wittiness and I am happy that my Math education is successful.

Yu knows what he is good at

2011-04-04T19:13:00.007+08:00

After attending MOE Excel Festival 2011, I noted that self-awareness is a key focus in primary school education. Child will conduct self-assessment in Primary 1. So, during lunch time, I asked Yu what he is good at. Without thinking, he answered: “Math, Chinese and reading”. When I prompted him further "Reading what?", he said “Chinese”. I explained that he is also good in English because out of 170 words of his school textbook, there are only 9 words that he didn't know. He corrected me, saying that he knows all the words. And after that, he told me that he is good in reading Chinese and English. This is the second time that I feel that what you say has a great impact on your child's self-esteem.

At bedtime, I asked Yu the same question again. This time, he only answered "Math" and revealed that he is always the first one to hand up Math worksheets in the class and told me: "Teacher always ask me to help the unsmart person." When I told him to teach his classmate instead of just telling the answers, he quoted two examples on he taught his friend Math:

(a) For 9+3, he will show 10 fingers and asked his friend to imagine that there are two more fingers at the end. Then count from 1 to 10 for all 10 fingers and count "11, 12" for the 2 imaginary fingers.

(b) For 5+4, he show 5 fingers on one hand and 4 fingers on the other hand and let his friend count all fingers.

For English, he is worried that he cannot spell a lot of words. I then advised him that he will learn 5 words a day. He then asked me how many days there are in one year. After knowing that he can learn only 2000 words in 400 days, he asked how many words he will learn in a year if he learns 20 words a day. After knowing that he will learn 7300 words in a year, he commented that this number is close to a 5-digit number. Hmmm, Yu is good: He applied what he has just learned about 5-digit number. He then told me that he would like to learn 20 words a day.

Xuan loves reading "Wheels and wings"

2011-04-03T22:01:00.003+08:00

Xuan has great interest in reading the encyclopedia titled "Wheels and wings". This book contains pictures of bullet train which is his favourite. Here are the details of the 4 reading sessions:

On 31 Mar 2011:

We spent 27 minutes reading the book before his afternoon nap. He sat on the sofa by my side and listened attentively.

On 1 Apr 2011:

At 7pm, he wanted to watch TV but after I told him that we will read the bullet train book, he did not watch TV. Instead, he listened attentively for 1/2 hour when I went through the pictures and read out the information from the book. In fact, Jenny told me that Xuan requested her to read the book to him after they were back from school this morning.

On 3 Apr 2011:

At 10+ pm when I went out to the living room, Xuan was 'reading' the book with Jenny. Jenny told me that when she did not pay attention to him, he will turn her face to look at the book. I then read the book to him in the bedroom. We spent 23 minutes reading the book before he lost interest and switched to a sticker book.

On 4 Apr 2011:

He spent one hour and 8 minutes listening to me reading out the information while going through the pictures. He paid full attention in the first 22 minutes and although he started to play with a toy after that, he wanted me to continue reading. I had chances to touch on new topics like how cable car works and how a phone call to a handphone is made possible. I went through almost the whole book in this reading session.

I am really glad that he love reading this book. He will stay focused for a long time. Actually, he is only interested in the bullet train pictures because he will keep asking for bullet train. But this is really a good start in cultivating his reading habit.

Xuan enjoys his first music lesson!

2011-04-03T16:05:00.002+08:00

Since young, Xuan has enjoyed watching Little Einsteins. He also likes to sing songs and will dance to the music. He will take the musical keyboard, play the music and start dancing. So, I finally register him for a music class at Yamaha. It costs me $288.90 for 3-month music lessons and $102.48 for the song books and musical instruments. Each session lasts only 45 minutes.

On going into the classroom, Xuan is excited at the chance to play the piano. During the lesson, he paid full attention watching the teacher acting out the song and followed whatever the teacher did. He also likes to observe the girl next to him.

There are a few activities within the session and they are fast paced. So, Xuan did not feel bored at all.

Shake hands with mummy
The animals go matching – individual and group
Story about a car Honky
Catch the star
Goodbye song

After the class, I asked if he wants to come to the music lesson again and he replied "No." But he followed by saying something like "Later we come again."

I am glad that I have done my part in cultivating Xuan's music talent.

“Ah ma, I said read book”

2011-04-02T21:47:00.006+08:00

3 years, 1 month and 1 week old

Xuan sure knows how to please me.

This morning, he passed motion on the foot stool. When I scolded him, he said “read book”. Later, on the way back from Kent Ridge Park, he passed urine on his car seat. When I fetched him out of the car, he pointed to his car seat. I noted that the car seat was wet and scolded him. On hearing that, he said “read book”. When I did not respond, he said again: “Ah ma, I said read book.” I was amused and stopped scolding him. He sure knows that I like him to read book and saying “read book” will stop me from scolding him.

Back at home, I scolded him again when I was changing him. He immediately leaned forward and kissed me on my forehead. Then he planted two kisses on my lip. I was happy and stopped scolding him again.

Hmmm, 他很机灵。

Xuan speaks Mandarin in his own!

2011-04-02T21:35:00.009+08:00

Xuan started to use more Mandarin in his conversation. I did not prompt him to speak Mandarin and he is the one who initiated it.

This morning, Yu took a jelly to eat. On seeing that, Xuan asked for a jelly too and told me: “我要”. Later, when he wanted me to peel off the plastic cover, he told me: "开, 我要开".

Yesterday, he told me: “I want 看电视...”。

I am glad that he started to speak more Mandarin. In the past, he only said "妈妈，请跟我来!" and "你看!".

Afternote on 3 Apr 2011: Xuan told me "好吃" when he showed me the frog game that he was playing. He has fed the frog with a lollipop.

我想开了!

2011-03-31T21:07:00.007+08:00

Yesterday, I was discouraged when Yu kept playing with Xuan and refused to learn although I was playing Math game with him to teach money concept. Thinking that I stay at home but make no progress in educating them is a waste of my time and money. I thought of working in the morning next year when Yu is in Primary 1 and I will just focus on teaching Xuan only (Xuan will be in the morning class next year).

Today, 我突然想开了。I decided that I should not hurt my relationship with Yu just because of his education. I did all things for his own good but he is too young to understand that at this age. And I decided that I will try to accommodate his characters instead of trying to change him. His characters are very much like his daddy. Habits like procrastinating to do things, finding excuses not to do things and doing things last minute are those that I could not tolerate. This is because I am one which is very organized and likes to plan things ahead. I also do things fast because I dislike wasting time.

As characters are in-born and cannot be changed (江山易改，本性难移), I should not bang anger on him when he refuses to listen to me. I decided that I should try to regain our close bond by closing one or both eyes to his behaviour.

Having this change in mindset, I had a peaceful day today. I did not shout at or scold Yu, except when he dug his nose and wiped the mucus on the bed. I brought him to see chinese doctor at Chinatown this afternoon and I accompanied him to eat his favourite cheese sausage. I did not scold him when he is clumsy and dropped his sausage. I also try to speak to him in soft tone. So, today I did not 爆血管。I feel good.

Yu is sick again and actually, all I want is a healthy Yu and not a smart boy with a bad health. I pray that I can find a good doctor whom can cure him and I will do all my best to make sure he gets well.

Progress in teaching Xuan Math @ 3 yrs 1 mth old

2011-03-26T22:08:00.013+08:00

Money concept:

When he asked to ride cable car and I told him that we need to pay money, he did not insist to ride the cable car.

He said “dollar” by himself when he took out one piece of the toy dollar note from the Monopoly board game.
Learned the format of a price for the first time on 23 Mar 2011. That is, xxx dollars and yyy cents. This opportunity arises when Xuan is very interested in the meter displaying the prices at Seng Song supermarket. He touched each of them which gives me opportunity to read out the prices of many products for about 10 minutes. I also read out the price when we are paying at the counter and the cashier is scanning the things we buy. For consistency, I read out 1.00 as “one dollars and zero cents” and “0.80” as “0 dollars and eighty cents”. In the display, the dollars are in bigger size and the cents are in smaller size. For example, $1 is displayed as 100. So, this makes it easy for me to refer to when teaching. I also teach him to recognize dollar notes $10, $5 and $2 when I hand him the money to pay at the counter.

Reading of dice:

Existing knowledge: Xuan can read 1 to 3 dots.

Xuan refused to count the dots on the dice and I changed my strategy. I just say out the number when I showed him the dice.
I use the following games to interest him to learn reading of dice this month:

- Ping pong ball game: Scoop up ping pong balls in a pail, depending on the face values of a dice. For example, if the face value is 3, the player can only scoop up 3 balls. There are nets of different sizes for scooping up the balls.

- Roller coaster monopoly junior board game: Xuan is interested in the car counter and I also teach stepping of counter according to face value.

Number bonds:

Existing knowledge: Xuan knows “1 and 1 make 2”, “2 and 2 make 4”, “3 and 3 make 6”, “4 and 4 make 8” and “5 and 5 make 10”.

This month, I introduced new number bonds “1 and 2”, “2 and 1”, “1 and 0”, “2 and 0”, “3 and 0”, “4 and 0” and “5 and 0” mainly using “Sit and catch” (aka 老狼老狼几点钟) game as what Xuan named it. I will ask Xuan a question like “2 and 1 make?” and then Xuan will answer and step forward accordingly. He still did not step the correct number of steps. But I am glad that he finally learns that “1 and 2 make 3” and “2 and 1 make 3” by counting my fingers on 23 Mar 2011.

I also let him created number flash cards which can also be used to teach number bonds. For example, for 6 fish, I let him paste 3 green fish and 3 peach fish. He is very interested in the foam cards that he created and will stay on with the cards for a long time (22 Mar 2011).

Naming quantity of objects directly:

I feel strange that Xuan now says “4 xxx” for 2 items. My strategy this month is to use two fingers to point to the 2 objects while saying “2 xxx”. This tactic seems to work because he now names 2 items correctly most of the time, although he still uses “4 xxx” to refer to 2 items occasionally.

There is also not much progress in this ability to count objects in random order. This is because he either refuses to count or he anyhow counts like counting an item twice.

Reciting of sequences from 11 to 20:

He still recites the sequence as “11,12,14,16,19, 20”. This is probably because it is difficult to pronounce 13.

I hope that number recognition can help to improve his memory. So, I used various games like Humpty Dumpty game and hooking metal rings to interest him to learn to recognize 11 to 20.

Sequence from 20 to 40:

Using new water toys like Daiso toy fish and dolphin, I get to recite the sequence when Xuan was placing the toy one by one into the water. But he is not as interested later when I showed him the new seahorse toys.

Using mickey mouse stamps, I managed to interest him to stamp 40 stamps. I folded paper into 4 parts and restrict him to stamp only 10 stamps per row.

As he slots in the car counters into the 4-in-1 board game, I also counted from 1 to 42 accordingly.

Place value concept:

I use Daiso mini-box with sticks to instill the concept that there are 10 sticks in 1 box. At the first time when he was shown the box, he was very interested in opening and closing the box. But subsequently, I can't get him to play with the boxes.

As mentioned above, I let Xuan stamp only 10 mickey mouses per row.

Finger play:

I am glad that Xuan can now show 1 to 5 fingers correctly. He enjoys playing hi-5 games where I will say “hi-1”, “hi-2” up to “hi-5” in order and touch our fingers. I also teach hi-10.

Preparing Xuan to do Math worksheets:

I started with simple counting worksheets where I write down the numbers and Xuan get to pick his favourite Lightning Mcqueen car stickers to paste on the worksheet.
Later, I improve the counting worksheet where there are circles to guide Xuan to paste the correct number of stickers.

I designed a frog puzzle where there are car stickers at the back of the puzzle pieces. Xuan will count the cars and place it on the corresponding number to complete the puzzle. Unfortunately, he played with my frog puzzle just once.

Front of frog puzzle

Back of frog puzzle

He played the paper clip hooking toy to match the number of paper clips with the magnetic numbers (on 22 Mar 2011).

Xuan at 3 years 1 month old

2011-03-26T21:54:00.000+08:00

Summary:

Put on pants by himself.
Legs are long enough to cycle.
Indicate that he wants to go “gai gai”.
Know number bonds “1 and 2 make 3” and “2 and 1 make 3”.
Take initiative to talk to his daddy. Call out “Ah pa” to show his daddy thing and 'talk' about it. Enjoyed playing with his daddy and Yu. Said “I want to play with pa pa” when asked whether he wants to play in the (blown-up) castle at East Coast Park on 26 Mar 2011.

Details:

Xuan is independent and he tries to put on his pants by himself (starting 12 Mar 2011). But currently, he may put two legs into the same hole occasionally.

He is neat. He throws biscuit wrapper into dustbin without being asked. He keeps the cloth hangers that Jenny left in the living room.

He is also daring. He dare to stay at home alone when Yu and I went downstairs to take PSP game from the car (6 Mar 2011).

He likes to wake up and cry at midnight. He will ask for toy. For example, he asked “Where is Emily?”. When I couldn't find the toy and passed him Thomas train instead, he opened his eyes to take a look at the toy and cried loudly to wake up Jenny to find Emily for him. He also wakes up from sleep to ask to go to the living room to sleep.

He dislikes taking picture. He does not have a 3-year-old studio photos because he refused to go upstairs to Studio Loft during the CNY walk-in.

He liked the newly bought Chugginton train shoes so much that he wore it immediately after I bought it. When I wanted to take a picture of him with his new shoes, he hid behind Jenny.

He still squat down when he throws tantrum, but he will follow us if we ignore him and continue walking.

Maths:

He can use fingers to represent 1 to 5.
He knows two new number bonds “1 and 2 make 3” and “2 and 1 make 3”. He is learning “x and 0 make x” where x=0,1,..,5.

Yu has become rebelious

2011-03-17T22:00:00.006+08:00

6 years 2 weeks old

Today, Yu refused to listen and I threatened that I will not accompany him to sleep tonight. Surprisingly, he did not cry to insist that I accompany him and instead, he asked me to do my computer stuff in the bedroom while he sleeps.

I was stunned and I am really clueless of what to do with him. Recently, he gets on my nerves many times and I was really furious and barked at him fiercely. Here are the few instances for just today:

(1) When we were at the clinic, I asked him to stop playing with doctor's stethoscope and he did not stop despite repeated warnings. I blew up at the clinic and when the doctor finally took away her stethoscope, he played with the blood pressure pump. Then while I was talking to the doctor, he went over to the other side of the doctor to touch her things on the table. I find that he is very rude.

(2) He was coughing badly last night and this afternoon, I just brought him to see doctor. When he saw his friend downstairs, he told me that he could not wear long sleeve because his friend will play sand. When I told him not to play sand, he told me "I don't care".

(3) Later when I saw him still at home, he blamed me for talking to him and ended up that his friend had left the playground. When I explained to him why I refused to let him play sand, he asked me to "快点安静lah".

(4) When I refused to continue playing the money game, he cried non-stop and asked for water. I wanted him to get water from the kitchen himself, but he continued to cry non-stop and refused to move.

Last night, when he felt uncomfortable and woke up from sleep, he just kept crying without telling us what happened. I felt that he is already 6 years old and should be able to convey to us how he feels, but he did not and just kept crying. This is irritating.

On 15 Mar 2011 night, he also cried when Xuan refused to help him to take things out to the living room. He got 3 sticker books and 1 box of colour pencils. When I asked him to make two trips to bring his stuff out, he insisted that I followed him to the bedroom to take his stuff. I was furious and barked at him.

I really dislike Yu's behaviours and I can't get along with him with his characters. I am seriously considering sending him to stay with his daddy because if this continues, it would definitely hurt our relationship further.

I was tired of taking care of children on my own. Yu is constantly sick, seeing doctor almost every week. His refusal to co-operate with me (like refusing to blow his nose before nose spray, refusing to take cough mixture) irritates me further.

Yu's chinese milestones @ 6 years old

2011-03-17T21:59:00.007+08:00

Yu can read chinese words in story books but is not able to recognize the individual words when shown alone. He has no confidence to read a new chinese book. Unlike English story, he will not read a new story which I have never read to him before. He would want me to keep reading a new story until he is familiar with the story before he is willing to attempt to read.

14 books that Yu learned to read by 6 years old:

China stories that Yu listened to frequently:

阿里巴巴和四十大盗，阿拉丁神灯，灰姑娘，白雪公主.

Yu likes 西游记story and he loves to watch the VCD too. I am especially glad when he preferred to download宝莲灯 over other story on iPad.

Afternote on 30 Mar 2011:

My greatest achievement in teaching Yu chinese is that I have cultivated his interest in 西游记. He enjoys reading different types of 西游记 story books. He reads 西游记 e-book series 1 on iPad and requested to buy series 2. Today, I read 猪八戒吃西瓜，大闹天庭 and 孙悟空大战红孩儿 to him, which he listened attentively.

Problem with updating Firefox

2011-03-14T22:03:00.005+08:00

After downloading new Firefox update and launching it, I have problem overwriting the existing application with the new application. Here are the steps:

(1) "Get Info":
Click on the lock picture at bottom right to unlock it. Change the access of "everyone" from "Read only" to "Read and write". But the application still can't be overwrite.

(2) Select the Firefox application icon and move it to thrash.

(3) Drag the icon picture for the new update to the "A".

Yu@6 years old - A filial son

2011-03-03T23:29:00.003+08:00

Due to differences in our characters, I often scold Yu and this has hurt our relationship. Many times, I was very angry with him and threatened to send him to Sabah to stay with his daddy. For example, he refuses to bath when asked although it is late; He refuses to co-operate with me, fighting with Xuan for the new toy which I use to teach Xuan Math. I like to do things fast but Yu always takes his own sweet time to do thing. For example, after I stop the car, Yu will still sit there with no intention to get down the car. I dislike messy and he is always untidy, leaving his clothes and socks anywhere on the floor after he changed. He refuses to keep the toys that he plays and will come up with different excuses. I like to be clean but Yu does not mind dirty. He played on the mattress after he was back from playground. Many times, I lost my temper and scolded him very fiercely.

I find that he is now closer to his daddy than me. At outings, he will follow his daddy. One reason might be that I often scold him. Another reason is that it is usually his play day when his daddy is back in Singapore. I will not ask him to read books or do Math worksheets. So, to him, mommy is all work and no play, but daddy is all play and no work. He can only understand what I do is for his own good when he grows up.

Despite all these, I still love him very much. I worry for his health and all I wish is that he can be healthy again. Yu also loves me as his 6th birthday wish is "Mama can live more than 100 years old" and not any toys or games. He takes note of what I like (flower pendant, rum and raisin icecream) and wants to buy them for my birthday.

At 6 years old, Yu has grown to be a brave boy, whom dare to go downstairs on his own to play with friends staying in the condo and he also dare to buy drinks on his own. He can talk to any stranger and he makes new friends easily. He is also talkative. Nowadays, he will tell me what was taught in the school. He likes to make a lot of funny noise non-stop which I find it irritating.

He does not really enjoy learning and reads books and does Math worksheets only because he wants to exchange them for games. This is an area which I am going to work on this year. However, I need not worry about his homework because he will do his homework without any reminder from me although he likes to do it last minutes.

His health is still no good after seeing Chinese doctor at Eu Yan Sang for a long time and I now switched him back to see western doctor. I plan to send him to learn swimming after learning from my colleague that he recovers from asthma after exercising regularly and swimming.

Academically, Yu continues to be good in Math and Chinese. He recognizes chinese characters fast and now enjoys listening to chinese stories. For Math, the highlight is that he can now derive equivalent fractions of non-unit fractions like 2/5 using multiplication and he knows 4-digit numbers well. He can converse in Mandarin with much less English words in his speech. He can read a Chinese book of about 500 characters from the Pelangi series and he can also read English books quite well. He can recognize many English words but he always wants me to read a new book until he is very familiar before he is willing to read it to me.

His Art teacher has commented that he has talent in drawing. But too bad, he is too engrossed in playing games and he now spends less time drawing.

He starts to be rebellious at times and will repeat actions which I ask him to stop despite several warnings. When I nag at him, he starts to say "你可以keep quiet 吗？"

Yu's 6th birthday

2011-03-03T22:52:00.001+08:00

Yu has an enjoyable 6th birthday. We brought him to an indoor playground at SAFRA Jurong and he played for 3 hours, not feeling bored at all!

In the morning, we celebrated his birthday at school together with his 21 classmates. Yu is very happy and he kept smiling throughout the birthday celebration.

Back home, hubby and I designed a birthday card for him (He requested some time ago) and I have spent an hour working on the card! I presented our BD card to him after school. He valued it and kept it in a drawer, saying that he will display it in his bedroom after we move to our new house.

Photo taken on 5 Mar 2011. Daddy's hand print.

Photo taken on 5 Mar 2011. Xuan's hand print.

Hubby bought a remote control car for him as his birthday present and was rushing to fix up the RC car ever since he was back on 2 Mar 2011. Yu is excited at spraying the paint and he asked to do it before leaving for Science centre.

We then took a family photo at condo's swimming pool as this may be the last year we will be staying here.

At 2pm, we headed for Science Centre although it is going to rain because it is Yu's wish. Unfortunately, it was raining heavily when we reached there and he couldn't play in the water playground. Luckily, there is something for him to play:

After spending 45 minutes waiting there, I decided to bring him to an indoor playground. We then went to Kidz Amaze at SAFRA Jurong at 3pm.

Yu likes it very much and he played there for 3 hours! He had much fun climbing up the 3-storey-high playground and shooting the foam balls. See the bright smile on his face:

At 5.30pm, I wanted some solo photos of Yu outdoor for his 6th birthday, but he refused. At 6pm, we headed for dinner and finally, I managed to take his solo photos and another family photo at SAFRA Jurong:

Yu likes tuna sushi and we brought him to the Japanese Food Street in SAFRA Jurong to eat. He ate 6 sushi.

At dinner, I asked him about his birthday wish. He said "I wish mama can live more than 100 years old." I am touched. When I asked him to repeat his wish to his daddy, he added "And you too." to include his dad. He is such a good boy whom concerns about his daddy's feeling.

For his birthday, I also sent in a photo to Playhouse Disney Birthday Book and on 4 Mar 2011, he was excited to see himself on TV and kept shouting "I saw me. I saw me. ..", which made me feel that all my effort is worth it.

I also let him ride electric racing car on Xuan's birthday. Sons can only ride this car on their birthday.

Yu's birthday gift from his daddy:

Yu's birthday gift from Jenny:

Happy birthday, darling Shi Yu!

My division game referenced by an eHow author

2011-03-02T00:41:00.000+08:00

Recently, there is an increase in daily visit to my Math website. The number of daily visits is now close to 20. To know why there is an increase in traffic, I checked whether Google lists my website in the top list. When I did not find anything unusual, I moved on to check whether there is any new eHow article making reference to my Math article. To my delight, I discovered another eHow article referencing my Math article on "Game ideas to teach division table". The eHow article is titled "Division Games for the Classroom":

I am very happy. There are now 2 eHow articles making reference to my Math article. I read through the eHow article and gathered that the author came out with her "Division hop" game using ideas from my "Jumping fox" game. Here are the respective descriptions:

Jumping fox (my game):

Based on the division result, players jump forward a number of steps. The player who reaches the finish line first is the winner.

Division Hop (eHow):

This game help students learn division while giving them an opportunity to move around. Divide the class into groups of three to five students. Invite each group to come to the edge of the carpet or an open space in the classroom. Read a division problem or write it on the board. The student to first answer it can then hop that many spaces forward. For example, if the question is "16 divided by 4," the student to first get the answer right can hop four spaces forward. The first student to reach the finish line wins.

The article is dated 26 Feb 2011.

I am very happy that I got more references by another author. Hooray!

Blog post written on 2 Mar 2011 at 12:41am.

Close to 20 visits to my Math website daily

2011-03-02T00:01:00.010+08:00

I am happy. My Math website is getting more and more daily visits. From 21 Feb to 1 Mar 2011, I have been getting more than 20 visits per day, except for 2 days. On 22 Feb 2010, I have 28 visits. If this trend continues, I will get 30x20= 600 visits per month. I have no idea where the traffic come from, but it seems that most traffic comes from Google search. Probably, Google now puts my website high up in the list although I did not pay them. Hehe...

More than 400 visits in Feb 2011

2011-02-28T21:20:00.001+08:00

This month is the first time that the number of my Math website visits exceeded 400 for a month. The statistics are as follows:

1 Feb 2011 to 28 Feb 2011:
448 visits, 2.71 pages/visit, bounce rate=71.21%, Average time on site=1:45, New visits=89.96%

1 Jan 2011 to 31 Jan 2011:
342 visits, 2.75 pages/visit, bounce rate=71.64%, Average time on site=1:31, New visits=88.30%

Comparing with the past 28 days, this was a 41.77% increase in visits.

I am happy with my new achievement. I do not know why there is a sudden increase in visits because google search is still my main source of traffic.

Afternote: An analysis done on 2 Mar 2011 suggests that if the search phrase is non-standard (i.e. not in the form of "How to teach ....?"), my website will be among one of the top 10 pages displayed.

CNY holiday at Sabah - Overview

2011-02-21T19:23:00.027+08:00

From 11 to 19 Feb 2011, sons skipped 1-week class to fly to Sabah and we had a memorable Chinese New Year holiday. During this holiday trip, sons had several new experiences which are not possible in Singapore.

New experience for Yu:

(1) See and hear fire crackers for the first time.

(2) Played hand-held firework sticks.

(3) Close-up with lion dancer.

(4) Kill fly:

We hardly see flies in Singapore. There were a lot of flies at the egg farm and Yu is more interested in killing the fly with the tool he had on hand than to see the operation of the egg sorting machine.

And the next 2 new experiences are possible only because hubby is the manager of PQ company.

(5) Help out at a retail shop.
- Place garlic on shelves.
- Peel roots off gingers and potatoes.
- Use bar code reader to read the prices of soft drinks.

(6) Went on stage to draw names and gave away lucky draw prizes to PQ workers at the annual company dinner.

New experiences for Xuan:

(1) See fireworks in person for the first time.

The first time is on 12 Feb 2011 at PQ office open house. Second time is on 17 Feb 2011 which is 元宵节。

(2) See and hear fire crackers for the first time.

It was too loud. Xuan was scared and moved backwards while the fire cracker was cracking.

(3) Played hand-held firework sticks.

Initially, Xuan dare not play but 4th brother managed to interest him to play. After one try, he liked it so much that he asked for more.

(4) Played piano:
Xuan loves music and singing. This is the first time that he can play on a real piano and he is very interested.

It is a fruitful trip and I think I will bring Xuan there again at the next Chinese New Year.

Yu went downstairs to play on his own!

2011-02-20T22:33:00.003+08:00

Though the playground is just downstairs and can be viewed from our house, Yu dare not go downstairs to play with his friends by himself and needed my maid to accompany him. I ever asked him why he is afraid although he knows the way home and he told me that he was afraid that my maid and I will leave the house without him.

During the recent CNY holiday at Tawau, I was surprised to find him going downstairs to play water at the fish pond on his own. And he dare to move around in the 2-storey building without following me closely although it is considered a new place to him.

Back in Singapore, a bigger surprise awaits me! Today, after I came back from lunch, Jenny told me that Yu came downstairs to play with friends on his own. It was the first time that he does not need Jenny to follow him downstairs. Hmmm, my boy has grown up to be daring and my worry that he is timid has now gone. But a new worry is coming on the way... How can I ensure that he did not leave the playground to go to the swimming pool or to the car park?

My article referred by "One Lamp" on facebook

2011-02-10T14:48:00.009+08:00

Starting from 2 Feb 2011, I saw a referral by facebook.com but was unable to track the website from Google Analytics link. Today, I finally found a way to find out who is referring my Math website in their facebook account. I googled my Math website URL and I found this "One Lamp" facebook account. The owner of the account is an iPad Apps developer which focuses on Math and my article on "How to teach toddler Math?" is referred to on 25 Jan 2010.

I am happy that I am getting more visitors from various means. On 28 Jan 2011, I got the first visitor from eHow. On 2 Feb 2011, I got the first visitor from a facebook account.

Yu "很会做事" - Comments by Arts teacher

2011-02-09T13:53:00.004+08:00

This afternoon when I fetched Yu from Arts class, his Art teacher told me this:

SY很不错，很会做事。会照顾人，同学哭，他会安慰他。他以后一定会做班长。

I wondered why the teacher said so and on the way back home, I checked with Yu what he did in class. He said that he helps teacher to keep the newspaper, clean the paint brushes, clean the blackboard and brings two nursery children to toilet.

I am surprised. Yu behaves so differently at school. At home, Yu is super-dependent. He will leave his dirty clothes on the floor. He wants us to help him take off his clothes and refuses to keep the toys. He always gets scolding from me because of all these. But I am glad that he is independent and helpful in the class.

United States visitors reading up my website!

2011-02-08T23:59:00.006+08:00

I started the Math website with the aim of capturing USA readers as they are very interested in Singapore Math. But I am always disappointed as they usually did not stay on my website for long. Most of them just exited my webpage. Today while I checked the website traffic, I am surprised to see 135 pages being read. This is the first time I have such a large number of pages being read in a day. I then checked on the visitors and discovered that one visitor reads 69 pages for 45 minutes and 24 seconds and the other visitor reads 33 pages for 24 minutes and 3 seconds. Both visitors are from the United States and they are returning visitors.

Usually, visitors whom really read up my Math website are from Singapore. And I am very happy that finally, some USA visitors are reading many articles from my website. I felt a sense of achievement because this shows that what I have written is beneficial to anyone who likes to teach their kids Math and this has motivated me to come up with more articles for sharing.

Recently, I also discovered that my website is a link in someone's facebook account but I do not know who the person is. An eHow article making reference to my article on subtraction with borrowing also brought in new visitors. I am hopeful that the traffic to my website will continue to increase.

I felt that I have a flair for teaching young kids Math. My Xuan can now remember the 5 number bonds "1 and 1 make 2", "2 and 2 make 4", "3 and 3 make 6", "5 and 5 make 10" and "4 and 4 make 8" at the age of 2 years 11 months 13 days.

Xuan starts to be vocal!

2011-02-06T21:54:00.006+08:00

Recently, I found that Xuan is vocal and is able to convey his desire. Here are 3 sentences that he spoke today:

"I want to buy toy."

This afternoon, we went to River Angbao 2011. When passing by the stalls selling products from Nan Jing, he started saying "I want to buy toy." although there is no toy stall at all. I just bought him a toy bullet train on 4 Feb 2011 when he kept nagging that "I want to buy bullet train".

"I want to play this."

At River Angbao 2011, there is a big amusement area. On seeing the blown-up balloon play area, Xuan indicated to me that he wants to play that.

"I can't hear you":

Tonight, I was playing snake and ladder game with Xuan to teach him how to read a dice. But he is more interested in placing the marbles on the slide to roll. I wanted to teach him reading of numbers 11 to 20. So, I asked him to place the marble on the hole numbered 14. But he refused to act according to my instruction and he said "I can't hear you." :(

Xuan bugs us for a toy bullet train!

2011-02-04T21:31:00.005+08:00

One night, Xuan took a bullet train puzzle and wanted to fix it. But the picture was being cut into small pieces by Yu and it is difficult to piece back the puzzles without seeing the full picture. He then went out the bedroom to find Jenny. I thought that he wanted to find a toy bullet train but Jenny told me that he wanted to buy a bullet train.

As he is naggy, I entertained him by saying that I will buy. Since then, he has kept on reminding me that he wants to buy a bullet train. This morning, we went to Nex shopping mall for the first time. On the way there, he requested to buy bullet train again and so, I went to Isetan. Today is the 3rd day of Chinese New Year and Isetan is closed. Next, we went to Kiddy Palace but it was also closed. To convince him, I brought him to the shop and told him that the shop was closed and we would buy the toy tomorrow. He replied "I don't want buy toy tomorrow", squatted down and refused to leave the shop.

Hubby then decided to go to Vivocity's ToyRus. On the way there, he still kept nagging us that "I want buy bullet train". We detoured to Bugis and when we reached there, Xuan had fallen asleep. Luckily, BHG was opened and we finally bought the bullet train that Xuan wanted. I let him pay at the counter and right after that, he kept playing the bullet train. Here is him with his new toy!

Yu is "able, very smart" - comments by K2 teacher

2011-02-01T23:48:00.003+08:00

When I fetched Yu from school, teacher Trisa was telling me that there is homework today. She told me that she lets kids practice writing a sentence and then the kid will "show and tell" in the classroom about Chinese New Year. She followed by commenting that Yu "has no problem in show and tell", followed by "Your boy is able, very smart".

I do not know whether teacher is flattering me but I feel happy. I wonder why teacher made that comment and I got some glimpse of the reason when Yu started telling me something on the way home. He told me that he got a chocolate from teacher when he spelt a word correctly (he could not recall the word he spelt correctly) and he got a star when he helped his friend in spelling "on". He said that he and Huzay are good in spelling.

"你可以keep quiet 吗？"

2011-02-01T18:28:00.004+08:00

Yu has grown up and he no longer remains silence when I scold him. Yu stood in front of the TV to do his homework and I asked him to move away from the TV. He shouted at me: 你可以keep quiet 吗？

Xuan is "very reserved" in class

2011-02-01T12:36:00.009+08:00

When passing by the school after buying things downstairs, teacher Tramell called me to speak to me. She wanted me to let Xuan wear brief instead of diaper to school. Xuan has forgotten to tell teacher that he wants to "shee shee" yesterday and wet his pant. Today, he wore a diaper to school. Teacher Tramell felt that Xuan can 忍 and wanted to train him to indicate to her that he wants to go to the toilet. She then went on to tell me more about Xuan.

Eating:

She commented that Xuan needs a lot of new experiences. He sees "spoon" and "bowl" relating to food which is wet and will simply refuse to open his mouth to try it. Until teacher Tramell takes away the spoon and wants him to try the steam cake, then he eats a little bit by little bit.

Very reserved in the class:

When asked whether Xuan speaks up, teacher reflected that he is "very reserved". She went on to say that "He does not want to make mistake as he does not want to be told off. ". But "his articulation is good meaning that he is listening well".

"Adapted to the school well"

Good progress in educating Xuan..

2011-01-30T22:13:00.011+08:00

It is difficult to teach Xuan, especially with Yu around. He enjoys playing with Yu and it is difficult to grab his attention. And he is always distracted by what Yu is doing. He takes afternoon nap daily and after he wakes up, he will play with Yu and in evening, he will go downstairs with Yu to play with Lu Lu. At night, I need to accompany Yu to sleep and many times, I was too tired and fell asleep myself. So, I felt guilty that I did not manage to educate Xuan as much as what I did for Yu when he was at the same age.

This month, I started making effort to read to Xuan every day and I am very happy that Xuan has grown to love reading. He starts to enjoy me reading stories to him. The books that I read to him often include:

"The gingerbread man", "3 little pigs", "3 billy goats gruff", "Little red riding hood" and "Goldilocks and the 3 bears".
"Little blue car", "Little yellow bus", "Little orange digger" and "Little red fire engine"
Thomas & friends stories: "Percy gets stuck", "Gordon in trouble", "James and Toby", "Thomas and the dragon" and "Twin trouble".
"Moo moo", "Baa baa", "Quack quack", "Neigh neigh" and "Oink and oinky".
"Rocket's hiccups".

He memorizes most of the sentences in “The gingerbread man” and “Little blue car” and he will recite the sentence when I pause to let him continue the story. He likes to win praises by pointing to the words and attempting to read by himself. Recently, he also started to repeat after me each time that I read “Rocket's hiccups”. Today, he sat on my lap to listen to all 9 stories in items 3 and 4 and 2 stories in item 2 all at one go attentively for half an hour.

I also made good progress in teaching Xuan Math. The Macdonald farm's books in item 4 also interest him to do counting on his own. He likes to point to the animals and count. This provides me lots of chance to teach him counting of objects arranged in random order. I now use two techniques. Firstly, I use two fingers in counting. One points to the first object that I count and the other finger will hop from one to the next to do the actual counting. Secondly, I gesture a stop signal to tell Xuan that it is the end of the counting. He does not mind to count again and again when reading the Macdonald farm's books in item 4.

His Math knowledge now is:

Recite from 1 to 10 very well.
Recite from 11 to 20, missing only 15, 17 and 18.
Recite from 24 to 29 and from 41 to 47.
Knows number bonds “1 and 1”, “2 and 2”, “3 and 3” and “5 and 5”. Learning number bond “4 and 4”.
Know actual quantity of 2 and 3. Use counting algorithm “1,2,3,..,n, n xxx” to count n objects.
Start to know that he can read a dice and read 1, 2 and 3 dots correctly by counting {1}, {1,2} and {1,2,3} respectively.
Learn how to show 3, 4 and 5 fingers.

This month, I also use many new activities and DIY Math tools to interest Xuan to learn Math. By chance, I also managed to teach Xuan to recognize dollar notes $2, $5, $10 and $50.

I am glad that I finally made some good progress in educating Xuan both in terms of reading and Math.