My Orderly Clean Baby

Valerie has somehow blossom into a very neat toddler. She can't stand a tiny dirt on her hands or legs. If some food got onto her hands, she will quickly said 'Mat... Mattt... ' (wipe.. wipe..). One day we were at Robinsons looking at Christmas deco. While I was busy picking up decos for our home, Valerie helped herself to one of those shiny ones. After a while, she started whining and showed me her finger.

I couldn't see anything on the finger and brushed her away. Still she whined and showed me her finger again. Then I looked closely and sure enough, there was something there. One tiny gold dust on her finger. She insisted that gold dust be wiped away. I rubbed her finger a few times and it was still there. So I said 'Sorry Valerie, mommy couldn't get it off. Maybe later...'

But nope, she continued to whine and have to have the gold dust off her finger that very minute. Annoyingly I took out a wet wipe and got it off her finger. Then she showed me big smile and continued looking around the decos but making sure she didn't touch one.. :-S

Another funny incident was at Heguru class. The sensei introduced finger painting in one of the session. So sensei put some paint onto a banana diagram and rubbed Valerie's finger onto the paint to colour the banana. I was trying to show Valerie how amazing finger painting was and how nice the banana was coloured. Instead, she took one look at her finger and looked very alarm.

Yes, her finger has turned yellow. Quickly she showed me her finger. At that point of time, the wonder of finger painting was not intriguing to her at all. She just wanted her finger to be clean again. So I got out the wet wipes and cleaned her finger. I tried one more time trying to get her interested in the banana diagram. Nope... she was busy checking her finger, making sure there's no more colour on it. :-S

After she has played any toys, she needs to pack them back the way it is. Everything need to be in an order that she remembers. Also, she must have a sequence to her daily routine too. If it's time for porridge, she will run to get her chair. If you help her to get the chair, she will be crying. She needs to be the one to take the chair, if not she rather not eat. After her bath time, she needs to be the one to switch off the lights. All these minor things she can remember well. If you miss a step, she will let you know she's unhappy.

Nanny says she's very stubborn and always want things her way. This need to be disciplined. But honestly I feel if she's stubborn for the right thing, what's there to discipline? You can't scold her just because she wants to carry her own chair or switch off the light when she leaves the bathroom... Ermm.. am I right?

Daddy comic strip 11

Baby Valerie : Anyone want to challenge me arm-wrestling...?























Baby Valerie : I can beat you flatt......




Baby Valerie : ..No takers??....*sigh* *sulking*

Baby Valerie : Hey...How about you ....!???

(Published by Papa Bear Production Ltd)

Daddy comic strip 10

Baby Valerie : Wah..Kor Kor... you have alien technology weapon.... *amazed*

Baby Valerie : Now it's MINE....*evil grin*...MUaahhahahahHhaha...

(Published by Papa Bear Production Ltd)

Puzzle Tracks

We bought a puzzle train set for Valerie last Christmas but she didn't really catch on to this until two months ago. Before that, all she wanted was to let daddy build the tracks and then sat and watched as the train went round and round.

But one night, I caught her trying to piece the puzzles together on her own! I was so excited that I couldn't resist recording her. Looks like her logical brain is beginning to develope :)




Check out the video clip...
 

Tangram Puzzle

I bought a magnetic tangram puzzle for Valerie since she has always been doing this in Heguru class. I just wanted to reinforce this activity at home. In the end I've decided on a magnetic tangram since she already has a magnetic board.

What we learn at Heguru is the outline of each tangram piece is drawn on a paper to form an object. Children are given tangram pieces of various shapes and sized to fit in. So I drew a few for Valerie to do. It turns out that after the age of 2, she could put the correct shapes accordingly. Of course she still needed some guidance now and then, like reminding her to turn the shape around to fit. But overall she can do tangrams on her already.

Last time, mommy has to point to her where to put on the paper. But now, she wants to do it herself. My little girl is slowly exerting a bit of her independence :)

Alphabets

Valerie was playing by herself one night, when I suddenly noticed she was putting alphabets on the magnetic board that she got from her birthday. I saw her putting the letter 'A' and she said 'A', then 'N' and she said 'N'. I was shocked beyond words and quickly asked Ivan to come over. Just then she put on the letter 'S' and said 'S'!!

Does this mean Valerie know her alphabets already? Later when my sister came over, I told her the incident and she asked Valerie the same three letters. And she repeated the same. The next day, I pointed to a brochure and asked her what is the letter and she said 'T' and 'O' correctly. I was very thrilled.

Later that week, at Heguru class, she was learning the letter 'N'. I showed the card to her confidently and she said 'N' loudly. Sensei was quite surprised.

Anyway that was about the few incidents that happened. After that she never showed she know the alphabets anymore. And I didn't specifically test her either. Up until last week, while we were out shopping at Jusco, there was plaster tapes on the floor and they were shaped like 'L'. Valerie then pointed to the tapes and said 'L' and then pointed to another 'L'. There was one that looked like a 'T' and she said 'T'. Our hearts leaped a beat, she still remember her alphabets!

And just last week, she suddenly pointed to my shirt and spelled out 'SAVE THE PLANET' one by one... The only letter she didn't seem to know was 'V'.

Sometimes I wonder if Valerie knows the full set of alphabets, or is it because when she sees something, it just come to her mind and she just blurt the letters out? Maybe the memory is stored somewhere and some day the letters flash across her mind and some day, they don't and she doesn't seem to recognise them.

Or maybe she just doesn't like to show her parents that she knows them. Only once in a while she likes to give us suprises? Ahh.. the wonder of how brain works.......

Sunday School

This year I've decided to enrol Valerie to Junior Sunday School after recommendation from a church friend. However I found out that the entry age is only at 3 but Valerie has just turned 2. But since she's born in 2008, she's considered 3 academically. So she's allowed to join but mommy needs to be around to accompany her until she's more independent.

Initially I was hoping to send her Sunday School as part of a transition for her before starting kindi. But after observing her for 2 lessons I guess I have a long way to go. No need to think about going to service while leaving her there. She's pretty much sticking to mommy the entire time. Only at the activity time (last 20 mins), she will not look for me. That's usually arts and crafts time where kids are divided into classroom according to their age.

On the hind sight, I could see she tried to join in the activities. After the first lesson, now she can show me the 'pray' gesture. When I say 'Let's pray', she will put her hands together and pray. Before this, she will let me say the prayer and then she will say 'Amen' just before she goes to bed. But she could never get the 'pray' gesture despite me teaching her many times.

Now we've started the family prayer where we hold hands together to pray just like what she learn in school. This has become one of her favourite moment before she goes to sleep. But somehow she only wants Daddy to say the pray, when I try to pray, she will put her hand to my mouth to stop me and then point to daddy. This happens every night. Maybe she knows daddy is the head of the family?? Hehe...

And at offering, she's very funny. I gave her RM1 and asked her to put into the offering bag when it's her turn. After putting, she will follow the teacher around and keep looking at the bag. Luckily she didn't come back and ask mommy for more $$$.

In terms of singspiration, she's slowly picking up songs. For the fast songs, she's still trying to follow the actions. For the slow songs, she could sing 'Jesus Loves Me This I Know' very well, that's because I've sang this to her since she's born. :) We're given an activity each week where parents have to do with children. Usually is to reinforce a particular bible verse that is being taught. There is also weekly memory verse. But I will not enforce that for now.

One of her favourite is the puppet show. This is the only session where she pays full attention to. I now see the vast difference between sending her to Heguru and Sunday School. Heguru is pretty exclusive and kids are taught they will have equal turn to participate in each activity. Well, you paid for the classes :P

But Sunday School is like a representation of what public kindi / school will be in the future. There will not be equal participation from each children simply because the group is a lot larger. And only selective kids will get to play a game or an activity. I feel this is something Valerie has to learn to get used to.