The Elves and the Shoemaker... (not again!!)

And the best-read book of the month is.......... "The Elves and the Shoemaker"... Sigh... Ivan and myself has reached the point of shivering just by hearing the title. Valerie absolutely loves this book! I bought three new books for her to read and this has top the list of nine books that she has.

She wants this book to be read every night... and not just once... five to six times!! Over again and again until I had to put a stop to it. I've tried to distract her with other titles but nope, she would grab this book and put on my lap again, and pushed the other book away. Don't know what's so attractive about this book, is it the shoes... cos I know she has a love for shoes (another post on this), or is it the cute elves? Or is it my impersonation of a sneezing elf?

I'm really going nuts reading this. In the end, to kill my boredom, I've read it at different speed. I think this is one way to train speed reading in Heguru.

But one thing that has been very impressive is how Valerie could remember which page corresponds to which dialog/story line for nine books! Sometimes she would pick up a book, open a page at random and say 'No....'. And that is exactly the dialog of that page... Another time, she would say 'Hello....' and that's correct too. Although that book has only been read four times. Even I couldn't have remembered which page is what if I don't know how to read. Maybe her memory training is starting to pay off? Hehe...

Paying Attention in Heguru Class

Prior to the Raya break, Valerie has been extremely naughty in class. Not only turning circles next to sensei, she has even started walking left and right, and up to the abacus, played with it and came back. When I tried to hold her to sit still, she arched her back and wanted to cry. I have to let her go and wander around the class because I didn't want her to cry. Cry meant putting stress on the baby and thus shut her right brain of learning.

Every time she walked around, she started to attract new accomplice. One week, it's XY (girl, 2 months older), then another week it's JY (girl, 1 month younger). At the end of the class, Sensei Sandy always say 'Valerie.... '. Sigh.. she didn't scold or say anything la.. but I know that Valerie has been a cause of chaos in class. *blush*. So I asked Sensei if there was any suggestion to get her to pay attention in class. She asked me to try to sit her down and talk to her. She said children this young do understand what we are telling them. We just have to keep reminding them what is the appropriate behaviour.

So armed with new hopes, I kept talking to Valerie every now and then for next 2 weeks since there's no class on Raya. I told her to listen to Sensei, pay attention to Sensei what she is showing in class. Join each activity, when sensei say 'Attention', do the bowing action, when it's Mandara, look at the screen and remember all the colours. I talked to her as detail as possible. Heck, I've even tried the 5 mins suggestion, talking to her right after she has gone to sleep. Whatever works...

So last Saturday it was a moment of truth. I thought if this still doesn't work, I'm considering of stopping the class but I really hope not cause I really enjoy the class. The first 15 mins went by in a breeze. During the 'Attention' time, she actually followed sensei and do the bowing action. Then at relaxtion time, she put her hands to cover her eyes on her own. I thought that was a marked improvement. At the Mandara session, she actually looked at the screen first before doodling on the paper. Last time she won't bother to look, just grab a colour pencil and start drawing lines.

Then 30 mins went by and still no sign of her going to the abacus. On and off, she did try to stand and walk around but I held her back and reminded her to pay attention in class. And she would sit down and not rebel. Also, she seemed to enjoyed every single song that was being played. Where there were actions, she would try to follow them. By then time we reached 45 mins, I was almost relieved. We were almost done with the class and still no sign of her delinquency. Instead, the other two girls did have a go at playing the abacus, but thankfully Valerie just sat and watched.

At the end of the 1 hour, Sensei usually came to each of us to sign attendance. For the first time, she said 'Valerie, you're a very good girl today'. I was completely elated!!! Yes, finally she's not in the naughty list for a day! Later Ivan told me, he's been peeping from outside the room and didn't go shopping. And he too said he always saw Valerie sitting down , not like how I've always described her :P

Anyway, I'm keeping my fingers crossed until the next class...

The Singing Baby

Valerie has suddenly expounded into singing over night! She started singing the entire 'Barney Song', 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star' and 'Five Little Ducks' all in one night. Singing along when I'm singing of course, using her limited vocab. Is this due to the Little Einstein cartoons that she's been watching? That's her favourite cartoon and she needs a dose of it every day.

When the Little Einstein starts, she will sit very still and stay glued to the TV. Then she will sing along '5,4,3,2,1' with her hands raised. Then when it's time to 'pat pat', she will put her hands and pat her lap and then raise her hands to say 'Blast Off' at the right timing. Sorry, those who watch this cartoon will know what I'm talking about. :P  So whenever she wants to watch Little Einstein, she will tell me 'Pat pat ahh?', then I will turn it on for her. I think this is a really good cartoon, it teaches classical music, composers, exposes you to world art and most importantly, I think Valerie learns 'timing' from it. She knows when to pat, when to stop and when to follow the actions again by listening to the music.

But come to think of it, Valerie has always been 'singing' since she's two months old. I've always sang her lullabys to go to sleep and after that she has always been 'humming' to sleep. Yes, since two months old! But the humming is sort of tuneless. It's very weird and nanny call it very 'ngam cham' (naggy) when she takes her nap. But I call it 'singing'. :P

That night when I put her to bed, I sang her 'Jesus Love Me Tis I Know' (thinking I could sing her to sleep faster). But guess what, she also wanted to sing along. In the end, she ended up more wide awake than before. Brrhh.... Then on Sunday, during the church service, after we sang a song, we were silent for prayer, then all of a sudden I heard someone humming the tune of the song we just sang. It was Valerie :P (not to exaggerate, she just hum the first two lines laa..)

I've uploaded a video of her singing along 'Five Little Ducks' following her Robin i-pen series.

Girls Will Be Girls

I used to be worried how much Valerie looks like a boy during her first few months. Then later, I worried how come she likes all the boy things like she loves to play with balls and trucks. Everywhere she goes, 'Ball Ball' here and 'Ball Ball' there.. And everytime she kicks the ball... Ivan says it's a very straight kick, even my brother confirms that. Ivan says even adults can't get straight kicks all the time. Too bad she's not born in England and she's not a boy, otherwise Ivan would start buying Arsenal jerseys for her.. hehe..

Anyway, all the worries about Valerie being tom-boy are over. Look at her recent changes... Now that's mommy's girl!!

"Where are you going Valerie??"

Can't you see I'm shopping?? Mommy also like to shop what...

Valerie found a new friend to play with recently...

Me and my teddy bear... (yes... she's finally holding a bear, and not a ball)

Colours

I tried teaching Valerie colours before getting her on the ESP games. Somehow she's attracted to Red and snatched the card away and walked around.

When I asked her which one is blue, she just ignored me. After a couple of minutes I asked her 'Valerie, please take blue and pass to daddy'. So that this looks like a game for her.

Ivan as always just busy with his computer games and laughed at me trying to teach her colours. Sure enough, she took the 'blue' card and walked to the end of the room to pass it to daddy. Then I got her to pass the remaining 'green' and 'yellow' card.

But the 'red' card? It's a no no... that's her card. She won't give it up and held on to it the whole night.

Summary on Right Brain Training (0-3 yo)

After reading the three books by Dr. Shichida, this is my conclusion. I don't need to get Valerie to remember everything that I flash to her. But rather, understand that part of right brain training is to have the ability to image. Once a child knows how to image, she will have unlimited ability to perform instant memory, maths calculation ability etc.. So there is no need to be frustrated if your child doesn't remember or understand the 200 cards you flashed to her.

For right brain training to work, we first need to have a strong love relationship with our child. Because right brain education works best when the child is happy, feel loved by her parents. When the child is stressed, unhappy or crying, the right brain will shut off. So it is no point forcing the kid to sit through a flash card session when she's crying and doesn't want to pay attention.

Three ways to communicate love to children:
1. Hugging
When a child has completed a task, hug the child and thank her for the help. Tell her she is a big help and how much you love her. Give a strong hug for about 8 seconds. This is to communiate mother's love to the child's heart. Many times we just give a hug but very brief hug, that is not enough to make the child feel love.

2. Listening to child's conversation
Listen carefully to what the child has to say, this willl capture the heart of the child. Use the echo method. If the child say "I'm feeling sad", You ask "Oh, why are you feeling sad?". By echoing after her, it is an effective method to converse with the child.

Avoid using commands and instructive words, but rather in a tone of request when we want to ask the child to do something. Instead of 'Put the toy back into the basket', we can say 'Amy, could you please put the toy back, this will make mommy very happy'.

3. Five minute suggestion
5 minute suggestion is used when the child has just gone to sleep. During the first 5 mins after the child has slept, the conscious mind goes to sleep but the subconscious is still actively functioning. So this is a good time to work on the subconscious mind. Speak to the child softly any good things you want her to achieve (like throwing bad habits, healing) and good to express your love to her also.

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There are six special abilities of right brain:
1. ESP - 5 senses of the right brain
2. Intuitive Image - right brain memory
3. Speed Reading - right brain photographic memory
4. Computer Ability- right brain calculation ability
5. Perfect Pitch - right brain music ability
6. Language Acquisition Ability - right brain language ability

As there are too many methods described in the books, I only managed to list out what is relevant to Valerie at her age now. The trainings look simple but getting Valerie to follow through is not easy.

How to Train Right Brain (0-3 years old).

1. ESP Training
1 (a) Telepathy Play
Hold your child in your hands and give a strong hug saying "I love you. You and I are one in our heart". Then image in your forehead a square red colour and say "Mommy images a colour in my forehead and sends it to your forehead. You can see the colour, because you have the third eye in your forehead, OK? Now close your eyes and catch the colour and please tell mommy what colour it is".

1(b) Clairvoyance Play
Place 5 ESP cards in a row face up. Have the child hold another set of 5 ESP cards in hand facedown. Let them place one card after another facedown, corresponding to what they think is the same card as the upper row. After they have placed all the 5 cards, let them turn over the cards to check of they are the same cards with the cards in the upper row.

2. Flash Card
Show the child picture cards and dot cards at the rate of 0.5 s per card. Flash about 200 cards per day. This is to open up the right brain. It may seems that memory training is better accomplished by showing the cards slowly and explaining one by one, but this is left brain training method. This will cause the left brain to function and the right brain unable to function.

Right brain education utilises unconscious and large quantity input without the use of memorisation. Mechanical repetition without seeking comprehension opens up right brain circuits. By flashing cards, you show pictures and say words at the same time. So you connect both brains. Pictures and images are processed by the right brain, while language and words are processed by the left brain. Flashing cards strengthened both processing.

When shown a large quantity of cards at high speed, the right brain memory that allows us to memorise things in a flash will be developed.

3. Memory Training
3(a) Linking Memory
Use picture cards. Pick 2 cards randomly and make a story. For eg, 'Rabbit' and 'Hat'. The rabbit jumped over the hat. And show the cards to your child and put them face down. Have your child tell what pictures the cards contain. Once she can tell the pictures in the 2 cards, increase to 3.. and then to 4 etc. Make sure to use the cards in the order you started. So 'Rabbit' will always be the first card, and 'Hat' always the second. Once the child can memorise about 40 - 50 cards, something amazing will happen. She will be able to memorise the order of the cards in one glance as an image without the help of words.


3(b) Mandara
Have your child look at the mandara card for 20 secs and memorise it. Then put the card down and give her a blank card. Have her colour the blank card as she remembers the mandara card with colour pencils.

Another one is to have your child keep the mandara card in her pockets all the time and tell her to look at the card when she has spare time. Look for 5 secs and close her eyes and see the after image. Repeat the procedure until the child can create the image clearly in her mind when she closes her eyes. Imagining ability can be developed using this way.

4. Vocabulary
Continue to teach the child more words. Point to objects and name them. Read books to them. Sing songs.


5. Computer Calculating Ability
When a child is at right brain predominance, she can easily develop numerical calculation ability. Dot cards and simple equation cards are used to develop this ability. Dot cards are a set of 100 cards which 1 - 100 red dots 2cm in diameter are printed randomly. You can show dot cards to your child at the rate of one card per sec. For the full 65 days Shichida maths program, please refer to http://figur8.net/baby/2010/08/22/how-to-teach-math-using-shichidas-65-day-program/

6. Language
Let the child listen to the language tape for 30 mins starting at age of 2. The more words in large quantity children receive every day, the more naturally they will activate their right brain to master the language without any forced effort.

I'm thinking of getting Ivan to download some japanese anime for her to watch. Maybe doraemon in japanese to pick up japanese? Hehe.. wishful thinking... but worth a try...