唐诗 － 咏鹅

Big C

Small C

咏鹅

yong e

骆宾王

lou bin wang

鹅，鹅，鹅

e, e, e

曲项向天歌

qu xiang xiang tian ge

白毛浮绿水

bai mao fu lv shui

红掌拨清波

hong zhang ba qing bo

I didn't know that BaoBei actually introduces Tang Poems until I found some papers with some Tang Poems on my dressing table. So, I asked them last night if they are able to recite these Poems. They were so thrilled to show-off what they had learned from BaoBei.

One of their favourites is definitely this one because it is amongst the easiest with the repeating 鹅，鹅，鹅. 

骆宾王 (Lou Bin Wang) is the Poet emerged during the Tang Dynasty. 

The title is 咏鹅 (About Swan) was cited by Lou Bing Wang when he was only 7-year-old. He described what he observed from a flock of swans on the lake. 

Ladybird's Peter & Jane

I am a kiasu mother, and I was desperate to get Big C to READ. So, I bought a set of Ladybird's Peter & Jane 1a,b,c & 2a,b,c a while ago. Big C was able to read 1a before she turned 3. Well done! Praise is needed in this case since I have not mentioned about this before. I am FAIR! Ok. Then, Big C entered P&J SCHOOL which I kind of slacked off a little, and did not continue with the set.  Hahaha...plus I feel it gets a little boring when 1b is still talking about Peter, Jane & Pat. My friends told me that I should have bought them separately to encourage them to read before they can get a new book, which I think it is such brilliant idea. I am not just kiasu, and I am greedy too. It was cheaper to get a set! So, I bought a set. Before I got this brilliant ideas of buying them separately, I even told Wd to purchase a SET because is CHEAPER. Muahahaha.....

So, after the last holiday which Big C attended the 1-1/2 months VY, as I mentioned before she also picked up books on her own. Well, maybe due to her freedom of "playing" with the books, Big C also enjoy books. She loves those girly themed book, Hello kitty, Princesses, Barbies. Since her Nursery, her tremendous improvement in her colouring skills, no more scribbles. She loves activities books, if she could figure out what to do, she would just join the dots or match the pictures. Otherwise, she would wait till I am home, and request MaMa to guide her. 

Now, she is 4+, well, in education-age, she is known as 5 (she is a Nov Baby) :P Yes, many excuses for mothers with year-end babies to feel it's normal for their children to be slower than those already 5 OFFICIALLY, and feel extra proud if their year-end children can perform better than the already 5. :P No doubt, there is a slight "hitch" in such thought, but can't help it. Mothers are the protector of their children, and that makes overprotective mothers and spoilt children. :P Like Mine. 

COME BACK! Now, she is 4+. 

She has finally completed 2b. Well done. I never like book 1c & 2c because they require the children to fill in the blank. Hmm, I mean it's good. Get them guessing and encourage them to spell. But I feel NOT YET. Hahaha..I love writing blog. While writing and commenting, then I realise "YES, get them guess the word to fill in the blank!" Before writing this, I wanted to say, I am not going to proceed with 1c & 2c because Big C is not at the stage to fill in the blank. Alamak! How could I make such judgmental error before even get Big C to try. 

I am going to buy 3a ONLY, and encourage her to finish before buying the next book. I will bring her to the bookshop and specifically let her know that she had completed 2b, well done, and her rewards would be getting a NEW book. Good Job, Big C!

Vital Years Updates

I am not sure if I mentioned about how Cs benefited from attending Vital Years' programme. 

But I want to record what I have seen from Little C lately.

My girls are fond of books, well, AT LEAST they enjoy picking up books from the little bookshelves to do whatever they like. Sometimes, they would pick up sticker books messing with the marble floors and doors with their stickers. Sometimes, they would pick up colouring books to practise their "scribbling" skill. Sometimes, the would pick up books and pretend to READ them out loud. When they were much younger, Cs used to rip up a lot of books which really drives me crazy. That was the time that I couldn't control myself from the FURIOUS shouting at Cs. The worse I had seen with Big C was she tore some pages into pieces and put those little nasty pieces into her mouth, gulped down. It was petrified and at the same time outraged to watch such scenes with my own eyes. My girl swallowed pieces of papers torn from the "Three Little Pigs". Argghhhh.... She was two! 

COME BACK! Hahaha..Come back on Vital Years topic. Little C attended Vital Years since September 2012. Let's talk about her recognition of alphabets both lowercase and uppercase, hhmm, till date, she is still confuse between d & b, P & q. Honestly, at this image,to them these are images rather than alphabets. So, I guess it will take some times for her to realise their differences. She is able to recognize "T" but not "t", she tends to read "t" as "not", maybe VY is trying to make Little C recognize "not" which confused Little C. She also got a little mixed up between "V" & "W" but with a little hint, she would usually able to blurt out correctly. 

And then, reading habits. Little C impressed me. It is not important if she can READ, but the HABIT of picking up books is amazing. I guess it will be the first step of developing reading habit. Is it? I guess we must build a consistent reading ambiance in the family, and continue to encourage the girls to read. What happened after Little C picked up a book? 

She flips the book page by page. She uses her pointer to point at the words on the left page and rely on the picture illustrated on the right page to make up her own story. As she makes up her story with the illustration, she uses her pointer to move word by word, and lastly she stops her story at last word. WELL DONE! Book Habit plus her imagination, these are enough to impress me! I adore how she makes up her own story and her attentiveness which we love to watch till she finishes her book before we praise her aloud. 

Sleep Training for Cs

Yes, I have gone through the stage of getting Cs to "sleep through the night" - Phew~ It's the hardest phase in my parenting record so far. (*I know, more parenting challenges to come.*) I cannot imagine getting myself back to the Sleep-deprived stage, whereby M & Me were only getting 2 - 4 hours sleep a day in SECTIONS. Geezzz.....  

So, what's the Sleep Training context about today? Well, I can't help feeling envious of my friends' kids who are able to sleep on their own. I am not expecting my kids to sleep in their OWN room yet as I don't have a spare room for now. But, at least getting them to bed on their OWN. 

Cs have been very very very attached to M & Me, especially in the night. For some reasons, M & Me are very much comfortable and happy to sleep together with Cs as we feel that's our BONDING TIME with the kids since we don't see the kids for long hours during the weekdays. Hmm...somehow, we get a little wearied of the routine. Oppsie. :P

I am rather strict with the girls' sleeping routine, especially Big C. I always get them ready by 9 - 9:30pm for bed. By 10pm, they should be all asleep. It will a lot easier if it was Novi who sent them to bed, by most 1/2 hour times, they will be asleep. However, if it was me or M *Sigh*, they will put on their wonderful act and dragged it till late. I mean really late like 11pm or even 12 midnight sometimes. SO TIRING! Sometimes, we reached home late intentionally, so that Cs will just resort with sleeping early since Kakak will definitely not going to entertain them till late. Bad MaMa, I know. :p

Somehow I feel, this is not right! Cs have to learn to sleep on their own. They can do it during the daytime for their naps, why not in the night? I don't see a problem at all. So, I come out with a good plan. First, I have to coax Big C to be a "brave" princess using Mermaid Ariel as her role model. Hahaha...Yes... Princess Ariel is set as the "Brave" Princess from the audio storybook that I have been playing her Cs.

Then, I "threatened" her that if she is not "brave" enough to sleep on her own, I will not let PaPa into the room and have PaPa continue to work and not be home.

Then, again I used a lot of "Princess' Rules" to make sleeping on her own is a very very "Princess" thing to do. 

Little C is a lot easier, most of the times, she would just fall asleep on her own without much hassle. Unless, Big C put up a big show, wailing for PaPa & MaMa, otherwise Little C is pretty much happy to get to bed at around 9pm. 

Well, I am not sure whether was the COAXING or the THREATENING worked. 

Day 1 : FAILED!

I told them not to be afraid, and that I will be just right at the door. I will be there for them IMMEDIATELY they shout out for me. Well, lights off, MaMa's out of the rooms, girls on bed. Not long after, Big C ran out and called for the loo. I had no choice but to bring them one after another. The story didn't end at the loo, they started to request for water, the lights on then the lights off UNTIL I surrendered and went in to bed with them. 

My plan continued to fail me for daysssssss until 

Day XX :

As usual, I told that I will be right at the door. Before I got out of the room, I told them no "shh shh", no water. But I gave them the option to have the lights on, and Big C chose to have the lights on. Thus, I left the room with the lights on, door closed. The girls chatted and laughed in the room, those melodious laughters and voices were so heart-melting. At the end, I sat by the door for almost 1/2 hours, listening to their beautiful voices. After which I realised that it was not right for them to CHAT in the night, it's time for bed. I shouted out at the door, and ordered them to SLEEP immediately. The room remained quiet for a while, and I slipped away to have my TV time. YUPPY!

Well, I didn't win all the times but at least I have the 50% winning record so far. Kakak is also doing the same, she would stay at the door and peep into the room once a while to make sure the girls are asleep before she take her rest. The situation is getting better each day. :)

Hopefully, it will be PERMANENT and that I will be the 100% winner! Muahahaha

K1 Theme Day 1 - Myself

Time to play Dress-up.

Theme : Myself

Dress Code : Something that I like to wear

Easy huh? 

Big C is very girly, anything that makes her a princess is the BEST!

A Pink Dress, A Pink Magic Wand, A Pink Tiara & A Happy Princess Smile.

 

Not to be left out, 

Little C put on her 

Purple Rapunzel Dress, A Minnie Mouse Hair Band & An Adorable Look.