Be careful who u leave your child with

Yesterday morning, just as we were about to leave home for his playgroup, I changed Lele into going-out clothes. Just as I was about to put on his pull-ups, he objected.
Lele: No need to put on diaper. Wear only pants.
Me: What will you do if you want to pee or poo in the classroom?"
Lele: Tell mama.
Me: Okay. But if mama is not around, then you have to tell Huang laoshi. You must say, 'Wo yao xiao bian' or 'wo yao da bian' to Huang lao shi. Okay?
Lele: Okay.

Along the way, I kept rehearsing the lines with Lele, worried that he might hold his pee/poo and dirty the carpeted classroom. See, Lele is totally diaperless now except during nap and sleep. Even in GUG he goes diaperless. So far he had been able to indicate whenever he wants to pee or poo. But I wasn't sure whether he will feel too shy to ask a person other than a family member to bring him to the washroom.

After lesson, I found out from Huang laoshi with great relief that Lele indeed told her that he wanted to pee, and allowed Huang Laoshi to lead him into the toilet! As a little reward, we bought a bottle of bubbles and went to play at a playground.

At the playground were a few other children, brought there by domestic helpers. One boy of about 3 was so interested in the bubbles and kept following us. Lele put the wand to his few mouth a few times but he shyed away. Suddenly, Lele used the wand and poked his eye! Luckily, the wand missed his eye and he wasn't reallie hurt. I kept apologising to his caregiver but she couldn't even be bothered to check on the boy. When the little accident occured, she was engaged in chitchat with another helper. This accident did not even interrupt their chat in anyway. They continued chatting like nothing happened. I feel sorry for children left in the care of such irresponsible caregivers. Thankfully nothing drastic happened this time...

Kids say the darndest thing

One morning, Lele dug out a storybook, "Rhythm of my day" from his bookshelf. This book had been one of his favourite book for some time but had not been touched for months. He was happy to rediscover the book and requested papa to read to him. I was in the kitchen then. Suddenly I heard papa laughed out loud. Then Lele came to me and showed me a section of the book. I laughed so hard tears came! He showed me a picture and said, "This one is 'peng kueh' (a pink kueh with glutinous rice and peanuts inside, which he absolutely loves and can finish one on his own)."

The picture was actually that of a child's sock. Once he pointed out, I could see the striking resemblance. But it was just so funnie to have him say that something in an English book resembles something so asian...

I think this anecdote really highlights a fact.

Kids are like blank papers. They have no preconceptions or stereotypes.

The little things

Lele likes to choose who to do specific things with him in the family, if given a choice.

(In order of preference)
Pee: Yeye/papa, shushu or me
Poo: Me
Wash poo (if he did "it" in the diaper): Yeye or me
Feeding: me
Bathing: Papa (esp if he bathes with him too), Yeye/me
Changing into dry clothes after bath: Me
Bed or nap: Me

1st week of playgroup

Lele started attending playgroup this Monday and today marks the successful completion of 1 week of classes without me: ) Unlike the conventional idea of playgroup, this is conducted wholly in mandarin for the entire 1 1/2hour session.

Many months ago, Lele and I dropped by the school just for a look. I wasn't looking for a playgroup then, but thought a mandarin would provide a good environment for Lele, who loves mandarin but had limited vocab because of lack of exposure. Happened to pass by so went in to inquire about their Mandarin playgroup out of curiosity. Lele loved the school and me too, for its bright and spacious environment with colourful hand-made wall decos. Classes have not started yet as it was a new programme, but I left my contact number in case enough students sign up.

Somewhere along the line, Daniel and I decided to...

1)Let Lele attend childcare from next year
2)Stop GUG after this term

In the time gap between end of GUG and start of childcare, we thought a playgroup would be good. We looked for a nearby playgroup but found alot of hidden costs in addition to school fees, such as uniform, school bag, material fees, high registration fees, insurance fees etc. Assuming Lele only attending playgroup till end of these year, all the extra money we fork out will not be worth it. Last week the Mandarin playgroup people called us and asked us to confirm our interest. With only $10 reg fees+school fees and no extra costs, I decided to give in a try.

So far, I can see a few positive results of this playgroup.
1) Lele has become a much more fluent and confident mandarin speaker. Whereas previously Lele mostly names things in mandarin, now he tries to form him own sentences of more than 8 words, all in mandarin without mix with English words. I can tell that after each session, Lele has more confidence in using mandarin. He will converse with me in mandarin on his own accord for a good 10 mins.

2)Lele's attention has also become better. This is very evident in GUG class. His ability to sit has become stronger. He will wait and listen much more than before. In the playgroup, the teacher empasise on training children's ability to focus by sitting still while teacher is explaining. Because of the small class size (3), she could reallie spend individual effort on each child to help them develop goood attention span. I think this has helped him in becoming more focused.

3)Because of some writing practice in class, Lele has also developed keen interest in writing. He now likes to pretend he is writing numbers with a marker, or request for me to hold his hand and write.

Teacher's comment about him so far:
1) Loves to speak out and repeat after the teacher.
2)Good pronunciation
3)Needs to develop good attention span but showed alot of improvement in this respect.

Latest weight and height

Lele's weight and height at 26months, taken when we took the flu jab.
Weight: 12.3kg
Height: 88cm

Height-wise, many people have commented he is tall but I'm not sure about that because I have seen so many kids his age taller than him.

Weight-wise, many people have commented he is rather skinny but I seriously dun think so. All of us in the family agree he is just the right size. Perhaps not then chubbiest in the market but skinny he definitely is not. At first I couldn't help but being concerned. But weight has alot to do with metabolic rate. Lele eats so much but runs around alot too. Perhaps that's why he doesn't have much excess. Besides, he is a healthy and happie little boy, with enough rest, food and play. What's more important that that?

Funny episode

This morning, after dabbling in some paint work with Lele, I gave him a bath. After I changed him in his bedroom, I let him know that I need to go outside to clear up the mess made during art time. I told him to wait for me inside the bedroom, then left and closed the door.

As I hurriedly cleaned up the mess, I could hear Lele playing and talking in the room. Suddenly, he called,

"Mama! Mama!"

Then he knocked on the door.

I said,

"Please wait a while. Mama is still cleaning up the mess. Give me 5 more minutes."

He said,

"Lele wants to poo poo!"

Then he added,

"Lele yao la ba ba (baby talk for poopoo in mandarin. We learnt this from his favourite bear story book)."

I hurriedly opened the door to lead him to his potty. As we walked, he said,

"La baba yao chu lai le! (poo poo is going to come out)"

Little fat frog

I keep forgetting to blog about this milestone... of...JUMPING!

Below is a video of his first few maiden jumps at 25months. They are clumsy jumps as he sometimes managed to lift his feet off the ground but other didn't. In the video, he was jumping like a frog. He showed me how he could jump very well like a frog. I asked who taught him and he proudly said, "Yeye taught Lele!"

The frog jumps were not the first though. A few days before Yeye taught frog jumps, I got him to successfully do a few rabbit hops. But the rabbit hops were not as beautifully done as frog jumps. Yeye got him to squat down and jump up high by springing the legs.

You're a good teacher, Yeye!

Current interests

Lele's current interests are

1) fire engines, firemen, setting fire and putting out fire
2) police car, pretending to be policeman
3) fighting/fencing

Boys will be boys?

Visit to school B

On Tuesday, Lele and I visited a school near us. This is the 2nd school which we have visited that is within walking distance. The other one is school L, but this one turned out to be even further away than L... It is too far to walk with a toddler (15 to 20 mins) but too near to take public transport. I seriously don't mind the distance if I have a bicycle. It will be good excercise. But what about in bad weather? And in the case when I have to work, it'll be tiring for MIL (in case she happens to be only one available) to pick him up. Points to ponder... As for Daniel, he wants to have a view for himself before making the decision.

Even though Lele (for the first time) refused to go into the school, he enjoyed playing at the various learning centres (partitioned areas with different play themes) that he was totally at ease playing by himself while I spoke with the in-charged and walked around with her. Apart from school W, this is the only school which Lele was so happy about that he says he wants to visit again. He also liked the in-charged. Below is a summary of good and bad points.

Good
1) Good hygiene
-Shoes removed outside and placed neatly in cubby holes for each student.
-Visitors required to fill in declaration forms and personal particulars, including temperature taken in centre.
-Visitors' hands are sanitised.
-Premises looked neat and tidy.

2)Spacious

3)Good variety of learning tools in well-partitioned learning areas

4)Excursions every month

5)Though the centre was quite noisy with activity, the N1 children looked settled and teacher seemed to have a good working relationship with them. Plus, they are tucked away in a corner, (a little bit) away from the hustle and bustle.

Bad
1)Curriculum wasn't explained very clearly to me so I get a very muffled view. In-charged just gave me a whole list of themes without explaining very well the students' schedule.

2)School has a daily TV time from 6 to 7 which I am not comfortable with.

3)Monthly excursions are good learning trips for Lele, but will be added costs.