Mooncake

TGIF!!! It's fun cookery for Jayden at school again!! :o)

Guess what they are making today?? You are right.. Yay!! Mooncake!! :P

Teacher Meithin says Jayden likes to eat mooncake a lot because he ate a lot of them! I didn't know that because I haven't been feeding him with any before as most of them has ingredients that he is allergic to.

Anyway, I think I would like to get the recipe from them so I can try to make it at home.. The ones Jayden brought back tastes soooOOOOoooo GOOOOOOOD!!! :P

Very nice packing from Shangri-La :P

This little mooncake is super yummy!! :o)

My Cheerful Boy..

Yesterday I had a few words with Teacher Meithin (Jayden's teacher). Here is something that we both agree about Jayden's personality:

1. Very Friendly, Active, Cheerful and Cheeky (always come with a smile)
2. Very Alert and Observant
3. Learned the Art of Sharing and Asking
4. Not a very academic person (doesn't show much interests in pencil and sit-down works)
5. Favorite activities are Pretend Play/Drama, Singing, Dancing, Sand and Water Play (other than toys)
6. Can say a lot more words and vocabs now.. Hehehe.. :P
7. ....

There are more but this is what I can recall for now.. :o)

Mama... Mom.. Mommy

For the passed two weeks.. something weird happens.

Jayden has been calling me 'mama' whenever he cries looking for me.. It is funny why he starts calling me 'mama' cuz normally he would call me 'mommy' whereas he would call his grandma "mama". However, the pronunciations between mama (mommy) and mama (grandma) are very distinguishabla, so I know he wasn't calling me his grandma.. Hehehe.. :P

I think it's because I used to tell him that a lot of children also call their mommies "mama" and daddies "papa". So he should have picked it up from there. Not just that, being a cheeky one, he tried to call me "mom" a lot of times too.. He would purposely call me "mom" and then give me a cheeky look!

JJ is way too cute!! :o)

Thunderstorm!

There's a storm right now and Jayden's hands cover both sides of his ears whenever he sees lightning, sorta like expecting thunders to follow.. :o)

Mommy: Wow.. You know thunders come after lightning! Smart boy! Who teach you to cover your ears with your hands?

JJ: Mommy.. Mommy.. close JJ ear.. (means Mommy uses hands to cover his hands usually)

Now I know where he learns that from! :o)

My..........

Few days ago, Jayden suddenly surprised me with his understanding of "my".. All these while, Jayden has never been using the word "my" and I did not use it frequently too.

Most of the time, I will either say the person's name (or the way Jayden calls them, ie Mommy, Daddy, etc). I hardly use the word "my, your, his, her (and so on)" to ease his understanding.

That's why when he started saying "my shoes", "my bottle", "my bag".... (the list goes on), I AM SURPRISED!!!

I think this is a very good improvement! :o)

Sentence Formation

These few days, I notice that our sweet little fella starts to talk in sentences. There were plenty of things he said, but I only manage to recall a few.. such as:

1. Where is Thomas?

2. Daddy red car wiper swish swish swish.

3. JJ hold it.. Mommy go..

4. Uncle.. and... aunty.. car there.. park (he meant to say uncle's and aunty's park their car there)

5.

6.

7.

*scratching head - me forgot!!*

Counting 1,2,3

Last week while on the way back from school, Jayden was counting 1,2,3 in the car.. I am again, amazed! I have always been encouraging him to count but for some reasons he only managed to count 1-3.

This time, he was counting 1-10 all by himself, surprisingly is... out of the blue!! I am glad that he can count till 10 by himself.

Just now, he got me a few books and one of them is the counting book. I wanted to test him again, so I asked him to count the numbers of fish in one of the page. He pointed at a fish and started counting..

He did it again!! He counted from 1-10 again! I am impressed. :o)

Puzzles Time

During the last hour at Small Apple just now, I let the toddlers have some puzzles fun. Jayden was surprisingly focused this time.

He had always been an attention seeker in putting the so-called complicated puzzles. I always believe he can fix them together by himself but he just wanted to grab my attention for some reasons.

Anyway, this time, he did put up the 12pieces puzzles all by himself!!! I am proud of him!! Not just that, he then took another set and put together all the 12pieces again!! Altogether, he had completed 3 sets of 12-pieces puzzles before we called it a day. :o)

Even though I believe he can do it by himself since few weeks ago, I am still very impressed. That's mommy.. I guess.. Hehehe.. :P

Sweet Talk

I guess my little sonny has inherited a sweet tongue from his daddy.

While I was styling my hair at the mirror in the walk-in closet, Jayden was calling me from the living room. I told him that I wasn't free at the moment and would come over when done.

Then, he came into the room and looked for me. When he saw me, he smiled and said "Mommy nice!!"

I think that's a KILLER!! So I ended up feeling happy and without wasting more time in styling, I followed him out. :P

Tag! It's mine!

Recently, I found out that there was a sticker on the DVD player. Guess what sticker was it? It's Jayden's sticker with his name on!!!

I have always been educating him to put a sticker on his belonging especially those that are mobile and he would carry together with him during outings. Hence he has stickers on his water tumbler, pocket books, toys, etc.

And since God knows when, he had his sticker on the DVD player!!! I did not realize it at all until few days ago. Now I know why he never allows us to watch any DVD on the player.

Everytime we have a movie on, he would eject the disc out without asking and put on his all time fav Thomas & Friends. Then, he would turn around, point to the TV, smile and shout Thomas!!! (Like we have been longing to watch it so badly like him!!)

Impressive ABC

It's my first time introducing ABCs to the young toddlers at Small Apple. To my surprise, most of them are not familiar with the alphabets, or they are not exposed to ABCs at home?

Other than the 4 years old, the only one that can recognize ABCs is our little friend, Jayden! I am very impressed that he can name almost all of the alphabets, previously he just pointed to them while this time he amazed me by naming them. :o)

It becomes a very important role for me to be their educator, and guess it is time for me to brush up some of their knowledge by exposing more things to them.. :o)

Singing time

Jayden is singing a lot lately!! Most of the time, he will request me to turn on his favorite CDs so he can sing along. He has been "working hard" on the lyrics but I am very glad that he picks up quite a bit on them. Oh not just that, most of the time, he will dance along too, in his way of dance moves! :o)

His fav nursery rhymes that he often insists to be played (so he can sing along) are:

1. Twinkle twinkle little star

2. Teddy bear

3. Looby loo

4. The wheels on the bus

5. If you're happy clap your hands

6. Itsy Bitsy spider

7. ABC

8. Polly put the kettle on

9. Ring a ring a rosie

To My Dearest JJ

To My Dearest JJ,

Having enrolled you at the Small Apple Kiddie is one of the greatest decisions I have ever made. Enrolling myself as an Enrichment Program teacher there is the greatest decision following the first. :P

Within a short period of 2weeks, you have grown up so much! There, mommy learns to let go of you so you can be more independent, though gradually, but it is so worth the effort. Growing up together at the centre is definitely one of the greatest experience I could ever have in my lifetime.

Before going Small Apple, I sometimes doubt that you are mischievous at times though I still find you sweet. But now, I'm assured that you are a 100% sweetheart and good boy. All the aunties are praising what a good boy you are! And comparatively, you are well mannered and obedient amongst most of the kids. You will not disturb and you will not turn things upside down. Likewise, you have become a favorite at the centre, all the children love to play with you. You are like the leader amidst the big and small toddlers, they follow everything you do and enjoy your companion. I am so proud of you.. :o)

Everyday during dinner time, despite being told not to go to the kitchen by the teachers and aunties, you will still go all the way to the kitchen to bring me a chair and put it beside your seat at the table. Seeing you - a small and tiny child - carrying a chair almost your size just for Mommy makes my heart melt!! Then, you will look for me, hold my fingers and drag me to the chair and said "Mommy chor chor." My heart melted, completely!!

There are many many many many more incidents at school that have my heart melted. I want you to know that most of the time, I just feel like holding you and give you lots and lots of tight hugs and kisses.. You are such an adorable sweetie pie.. Yup, I still remember when I told you that and you point at yourself and said "JJ sweet pie". Hahaha :o)

You know what, everyday, I am assured that I made the right choice is when you tell me you wanna go to 'school'. Whenever I took out your Small Apple shirt and pants, you will say 'ngor oi small apple shirt pants". Whenever I said it's time to school, you will stop everything else and start putting on your shoes.

As for myself, I really enjoy teaching at Small Apple. I have learned so much not just on teaching the Enrichment Programs and Helen O'Grady drama class, but also as an understanding Mommy too.

Nevertheless, it's the best choice. :o)

Narrator

Nowadays, Jayden will sometimes play by himself while I am busy with my works. Most of the times, he spends his time with his favorite and beloved trains - Thomas, Percy and Terence.

However, this favoritism "crisis" seems to be getting severe. He is so engrossed in his play that he disregards his sleep completely.

For the passed one week, he wakes up very early in the morning just because he wants to play them. He refuses to sleep at night just because he wants to play them. It is getting somewhat worrisome!!

I know at this stage of time, toddlers start to develop strong attitude towards their likes and dislikes. Perhaps it is really nothing to worry about... Hmmm...

Singing Song

Lately, JJ starts to sing songs!! Wow!!!

Well, he can't sing it by himself yet, but he follows thru whenever he heard the songs. Currently, he can sing a few words (not in sentence!) of the following songs:

1. Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

2. Barney's Song

3. It's a Beautiful Day (Barney)

4. Itsy Bitsy Spider

5. The Wheels on the Bus

and the list goes on..........

TQ Barney

I would like to express my appreciation with a big Thank You to Barney!! Because of Barney, JJ is brushing teeth.

In my earlier post regarding JJ is finally brushing his teeth (Yay!!) I forgot to give credit to Barney's contribution. It is indeed and truly because of Barney's Pajama Party that JJ finally wants to (imitate the kids) brush his teeth.

Thank You Barney!! :o)

Broken Thomas

Last Sunday, Jayden found out his Thomas & Friends DVD was broken in two. We were seriously not sure how did that happen. H just pulled Daddy to his playroom, opened up the cabinet, then pointed to the broken disc. Then, he took the pieces, dragged Daddy to the study room, brought Daddy a bottle of glue and said "Glue it!".

Daddy was laughing inside out thinking how to glue the broken pieces back together, even so, it would be useless. So Daddy explained to him that broken disc could not be used again. JJ look terribly disappointed.

For the passed few days, he had been holding the broken pieces every now and then. You can tell from his facial expression that he really really miss Thomas.. :P

Swimming Lesson with New Instructor

Last Sunday marks the day Jayden started his very first swimming lesson with the new instructor Jordan.

Jordan is a local swimming coach/instructor that has a totally different set of believes in training children to swim. He uses a more subtle way rather than forcing Jayden to "drown" (instead of swim) totally unprepared which happened to the British instructor that we had before.

I am very happy that our first lesson turned out totally awesome! Jayden enjoyed his lesson so much. Throughout the lesson, he was spending time with us all the time, as the instructor only observed from time to time from the side, and told us what to do next, from time to time.

I was so surprised that Jayden refused to leave the pool in the end of the lesson which was totally contradicting with his experience with the previous instructor. After the lesson, we could stay on for an extra 15min so we brought him to the children pool. You wouldn't believe this but he totally was in love with it after knowing his feet could reach the bottom of the pool!!! I would never forget the expression on his face when he first stood on the children pool. :o)

Next day, he held his swimming suit and told me "ngo oi".. Then I asked him if he wanna go swimming and he said while nodding his head "hmmm.. ngo oi". Isn't it awesome!! :o)

Even though the location of the swimming lessons is considerably inconvenient and far from our house, it is still worth the effort. :o)

Put On and Take Off

Today mark the day Jayden insists to put on and take off his pants by himself. I was just thinking of asking him to do it by himself the other day, but was discouraged myself for I thought he might not be so ready to do it as yet. He has been asking me to do it all the time so I was thinking that I will try asking him after Chinese New Year..

Umm well.. Guess he is ready to be more independent now.. :o)

Constructing 3 words sentence

I am very glad that Jayden seems to be communicating better in what seemed like a quick pace to me.. He has also picked up a lot of words like dirty, toll, potty, table, yummy, tiger, hippo, stop, move, Barney, and many many things and his favorite characters' names.

Not just that, Jayden starts to have more expression in words and also begins to construct 2 to 3 words sentence such as:

1. mommy daddy go (means mommy and daddy go)

2. red car go (means the red car is going - normally he regards red car to daddy's car)

3. red... stop!! green.. move!! (or green.. go)

4. mommy, bitbit, hold it (means mommy, hold the forklift)

5. yum... nice (when he eats something he likes, he will say yum followed by nice!)

6. dogdog eat yum (meand doggie eats yummy food)

7.

The list sure goes longer than this but I just need time to recall everything that he has ever said.. And this is worsen by my slow memory lately.. I mean it, for some reason, my memory has gotten worse since last week and I don't know why..

All in all, I am again a happy mommy seeing my little angelic boy is getting more confident in talking now.. It's such a pleasure!! :o)