Reciting again...A,B,C instead - 14months old

Zo Ee at 14months 2weeks old. (29/6/2009)

I just overheard little Zo Ee reciting again. She seems to enjoy reciting just before nap or bed. "Wondering why?" And this time, it is the Alphabet, though not the complete set but little Zo Ee was reciting quite a number of them in sequence with some missing ones in between. I'm not sure whether she has forgotten the missing ones or she's having difficulty in saying them, thus omitted them herself. : )

At first, Zo E was reciting, “ J, K, L, N, O, P, Q, S, T, V, Y, Z “ and some time later, “A, B, hee ( C ), D, E, F, G, H,I, J. “ . It seems like she had broken down the set of alphabet into 2 smaller groups just within her little memory capacity. It’s amazing for a 14 months old to achieve this far as most guide book stated that baby’s brain has limited memory space to accommodate long sentence at the early stage.

Zo Ee says - 14months old

Bread for breakfast
Zo Ee : "Bread, bread" (while pointing at the Gardenia bread on the dining table)
Knowing that little Zo Ee loves bun more than white bread, daddy decided to give her some bun instead.

Daddy : "Here, daddy gives you some bread."
Zo Ee : " Bun! " (while happily showing the bun to daddy.)
Daddy : "Oh…yes, this is a bun."
Daddy is amazed how smart little Zo Ee is. : )

Electric Kettle – Jug
While browsing the Giant Hypermarket pamphlet, I pointed at the 1.5 little Electric Kettle Jug and asked little Zo Ee what it was and I was expecting little Zo Ee to tell me that it is a kettle.
Mummy : "Zo Ee, What is this?"
Zo Ee : "Jug!"
Mummy : "Oh yes, this is an Electric Kettle-Jug."
At first, mummy didn’t care to take note that it was an electric kettle-jug. It‘s just another electric kettle to mummy, being not so specific like little Zo Ee. But upon hearing what Zo Ee had said, Mummy took a moment to think and examine the photo again. Little Zo Ee was correct, it doesn’t look like a normal kettle, it does look more like a jug.

Telephone - 14months old

Zo Ee at 14months 2weeks old. (27/6/2009)


" Hmm...who should I call this time? "

Busy dialing....

I should have capture little Zo Ee chatting on her telephone too; with her many funny sentences in a foreign language. I believe she must be talking to daddy, as most of the time, daddy is the only one calling the home line. And whenever she hears the telephone ringing, little Zo Ee immediately tells Mummy, "daddy aah..." while pointing at the ringing telephone.

Video uploaded

Reciting 1,2,3,...,10 - 14months old

Zo Ee at 14months 2weeks old. (26/6/2009)

I couldn’t believe my ears. I just overheard little Zo Ee reciting her numbers several time; “one, two, tee(three), for(four), ive(five), ix( six),….(pause), eight, ine(nine), ten” in bed. That’s a lot, 9 words in a row for a 14months old and in the correct sequence. And for the pausing and missing seven, she must be having trouble saying it with her current limited 2 syllabus words vocabulary. "No matter what, This is really amazing!!! "

I believe this is the power of watching television (in this case -VCD programme) , so parents out there, be extra careful on what programmes your children are watching on the television. They will easily grasp ideas or knowledge without filtering - good or bad. Basically absorbing everything they see and hear.

Yes, little Zo Ee learned this from her VCD programme in less than 10x viewing as Mummy has been reserving this disc for a long time. (Never want to confuse little Zo Ee with her number dots.) But only showing it to her lately, especially last week, as Mummy was running out of discs for her diaper changing time - while little Zo Ee was down with stomach-flu.

Furthermore, for those whose have been following my blog, they should know that I have been teaching little Zo Ee number dots and maths equations in random. I am more focus on her knowing and recognizing her number dots (0-100) and lately her numbers in symbols (0-100). So the idea of reciting them was never on my head all this while. Moreover “learning to recite them” is a little too early for a 14 months old who is currently saying one to two words sentences. But my little Zo Ee has just proven me wrong. “She is just an amazing toddler! I’m just speechless!!! “

Updated as on 2nd July 2009.

At 5am today, little Zo Ee was wide awake and reciting her numbers again. This time, she got them all perfectly; 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. Yeh! Yeh! Yeh!

More Shapes - 14months old

Zo Ee at 14months 11days old. (22/6/2009)

Mummy wanted to add new shapes to little Zo Ee's knowledge bank. So to make learning more fun, Mummy made some new foam shapes for her, both new and old shapes. With these, Zo Ee is learning superbly fast (or maybe her learning capability has improved tremendously over the time). It only took Mummy 3 days (once session daily) and my little Zo Ee is able to recognize all the new shapes. In fact, she managed to pick up a few in the first day itself but 3 sessions to know them all, especially to differentiate hexagon from heptagon. (Attached video was only taken 1 week later as little Zo Ee was sick, so the exact date should be 14/6/2009.)

10 new shapes
Parallelogram, Pentagon, Heptagon, Quadrilateral, Polygon, Trapezium, Hexagon, Octagon, Semicircle and Cross.

Matching Shapes

Mummy only needs to show little Zo Ee once, and immediately she understood the concept and how to match them. Maybe this is much simpler than those number shapes mats that she has been playing with everyday and am proudly to say that little Zo Ee can fix most of the 0-9 now, occasionally having difficulty in fixing one or two of them.

New and old shapes


..............................................................................
Then

12 months old
Old shapes (common shapes learned from many library books)
Triangle, Rectangle, Circle, Crescent, Heart, Square, Star, Oval and Diamond

World Map - 14months old

Zo Ee at 14months 10days old. (21/6/2009)





I have started little Zo Ee on the World Map about 2 weeks now. Initially, I introduced her to 2 countries; Australia and Greenland. Slowly, I add-in more to her collection whenever she is coping well with those existing ones. I don’t have a fix schedule on how to teach her but I have had the map fixed near to her play area, so whenever I’m up to it, I’ll ask little Zo Ee to locate and point at a particular country that I have taught her earlier. Little Zo Ee seems to enjoy this “game” and always excited to see a new country added to her collection. Occasionally, I even see her reading the map herself, stopping by while playing.

Merely two weeks now and Zo Ee can locate 10 countries briskly – Australia, Russia, Madagascar, India, Saudi Arabia, Greenland, United States of America, Alaska (part of America), Brazil, and Antarctica (country?). And tomorrow, Mummy will add-in the 11th country to her collection.

Zo Ee’s favourite county is Australia. After each time she pointed at it, she will make a comment that Australia is “pink” in colour. Her second love is Russia, most likely because I have been repeatedly telling her that Russia is very big, so she will make the comment “big” after pointing at Russia. She also loves the tittle “World Map”, though she has yet to be able to pronounce the word World, but she loves uttering the word “Map” and pointing at it.

Reading the World Map is fun for little Zo Ee since Mummy will add-in a new country every day or every two days. It's like hunting for a new treasure everyday, where there will always be new excitement to look out for.

Countries - Australia, Russia ( "big" ), Greenland, Madagascar.

Zo Ee was more cooperative today, so I managed to capture a better video of her. Countries - India, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Australia, Madagascar, Brazil, Greenland, United States of America and Alaska.

Getting better

Zo Ee at 14months 2weeks old. (24/6/2009)

It has been more than a week since little Zo Ee’s down with stomach-flu, and Zo Ee is getting better though not fully recovered yet. Great that the fever has totally gone today and diarrhea is getting less frequent, still more than 5x daily, but much lesser than last week. Less diaper changing time, means less work for mummy and less pain for little Zo Ee. This also gives sufficient dry time for the nappy rash to heal. Rash is a lot better now, smaller in area and less raw.

The whole of last week was one suffering to little Zo Ee especially during diaper time. It was not an easy week for mummy too, as mummy has to change her every hour or immediately after a poo. This happened so frequent until little Zo Ee is able to tell mummy after each poo. She will be screaming in pain and telling me, “poo… poo…” while pulling at her diaper. And it takes about half an hour for the whole diaper changing to take place. Cleaning, airing for 15minutes before applying protection cream and let it on for another 10-15minutes before fastening the Velcro. So I have been spending 6 -7 hours or more daily to change Zo Ee’s diaper. And I have been setting the alarm clock to check on her every two hours in the middle of the night. This process has been so tiresome but a must for faster healing. And Zo Ee watches too many VCD programmes for the whole of last week, because that's the only way to keep her still for half an hour. Usually she watches only 2-3 different programmes a day.

Sick Zo Ee & language update - 14months old

Zo Ee at 14months 1week old. (19/6/2009)
(video added)

It is disheartening to see my little princess down with stomach-flu and high fever since Tuesday early morning. She is still having her diarrhea more than 10x a day and yet there isn’t any thing we can do to help, other than wait for it to clear all by itself. .

Surprisingly, though my little Zo Ee is down with high fever (up to 39.2 degrees Celsius), she is still happily playing most of the time, occasionally cranky looking for more affection and comfort. Some time, she just want mummy by her side, and Zo Ee will be hugging me and smiling to me all the time. But each time, she passes motion; she will be crying and screaming when I have to change her due to the soreness and raw open skin cause by the acidic stools. It’s so hard on us seeing our little princess crying and screaming in pain as she has always been our little angel, nice and happy everyday. So, to all parents out there, please be extra careful on yours and baby's daily hygiene. This will save you, especially baby a lot of suffering. Maybe we cannot avoid this 100% but at least we can minimize their chances of being infected by virus/bacteria, especially the unnecessary suffering and pain.

Although sick, Zo Ee is still progressing well in her learning, all initiated by herself as mummy is so busy caring for her and feeling tired due to little sleep past nights (sponging her fever every few hours and changing her soil diapers), but little Zo Ee insisted mummy to continue to read to her. She still loves her books a lot and surprisingly she even started laughing out loud while reading all by herself on a few particular pages. One particular page is about a little baby making a mess while feeding herself and Zo Ee will point out at the word “Messy” and say “Mea” before laughing out loud all by herself. She loves to browse at this page many times a day, before laughing out loud repeatedly. We are not sure what is so funny about that word “Messy” or the picture illustration but it does make little Zo Ee laugh happily.

Language progress:
Past few days, I overheard many of Zo Ee’s new words while she was browsing her word cards/books all by herself. I haven’t really count yet but some of them are; and, aunt, ray , come, cheese, meat, far, stand, gate, egg, sit, ark (shark), chair, mell(smell), cot, spec (spectacle), ant, eight, mile(smile), zip, cold, hot, Spain, whale , thank(thank you) while some chinese words like ge-ge, jie-jie, yeh-yeh, mei-mei and some 2 syllables words are happy, starfish, camel, circle, terter(turtle), Orca(a type of whale), lemon and dolphin. " That is a lot for a week progress!!! " I believe there are more than these that she is able to read and say.

And just now, when she saw me wearing a new shirt after my bath, she excitedly came over to me, at first, I thought she wanted a hug from me, but I was wrong. She pointed at the word GEX on my shirt and say "GEX" , oh! she was correct, there was this "GEX Jeans" written on my shirt which I have not wear for months . This is just another example of Zo Ee's natural phonics skill in reading a new word.

Sometimes, she will tell mummy what she wants but most of the time, she still preferring in making discomfort sound to indicate her wants or to get our attention but when mummy asked her “Zo Ee, what is wrong?” or “Zo Ee, what do you want?” and little Zo Ee will reply mummy, “Milk” , “cheese” or “book” or “pen” or ”cot” or “bed” etc.

Daddy or Uncle - 14months old

Zo Ee at 14months 4days old. (15/6/2009)

All men are daddies!
Oops, my little Zo Ee seems to be confused that all men should be called daddy. "Is this a grouping confusion?" As she is so used to say "dog” for all types of dogs, “tree” for all the different trees that she sees every day and flowers, birds, cars, etc.

"Or is she being correct?" This is because she is used to read the word Dad on her picture dictionary, and that man in that dictionary is sure not Zo Ee's daddy at all. He is just another man in illustration. Furthermore, Zo Ee does understand that the word Dad means daddy, as each time, she will read the word dad out loud first before commenting that it also means daddy by saying the word daddy out loud. In addition, she had also encountered this "kiss daddy goodnight." from one of the library books she read earlier and neither that the man in that illustration is Zo Ee's daddy. Again, the picture plainly shown another man, and not the similar man she encountered earlier in her dictionary too. Moreover, Zo Ee had read a few more other library books with the word daddy in them and all have different man as their own illustration. Therefore, "could this(seeing many different man being called daddy in different books) have let little Zo Ee to deduce that the word daddy just means any man?" - this is exactly how little kids learn, through seeing enough examples before deducing their own rules.

The first time little Zo Ee called someone else "daddy" happened last week, when my cousin and her boyfriend came for a visit. She said “daddy” and pointed at my cousin’s boyfriend without being told. So I just corrected her then, telling her “No, he is not daddy.” But little Zo Ee kept calling him “daddy” a few times while pointing at him during the entire short visit.

Past few days; I do notice that little Zo Ee will tell me “daddy aah” whenever our neighbour opens or closes the door. At first, I thought she may have mistaken that daddy’s opening the door and that daddy’s home whenever she hears the opening or closing of the door. So each time, I’ll just corrected her telling her that “No, that is not daddy, that is our neighbour “. Coincidentally those staying next door are all male college students.

And today, I finally understood the true meaning of daddy to little Zo Ee when we were browsing daddy’s magazine just now. She pointed to a man in one of the pages and told me “daddy”. So again, I corrected her, “No, he is not daddy. He is Uncle.” But little Zo Ee insisted, pointing at the same picture again and said “Daddy aah”. Again, I corrected her while shaking my head – indicating no, “No, he is not daddy, daddy is at work. He is uncle.” This time, little Zo Ee was still staying put with her argument, saying “daddy” while pointing at that same picture. So to avoid this confusion, I moved on to another page, and when I saw another picture of a man, I asked Zo Ee, “ Zo Ee, who is this?” Zo Ee replied “ daddy” while pointing at that new picture. So I corrected her again, “No, Zo Ee, he is not daddy, he is uncle.” And this time, frustrated Zo Ee replied me while shaking her head- indicating NO and telling me aloud that it was daddy again. So I corrected her again, and she replied with more head shaking- NO, NO, NO and replied me aloud “daddy” while pointing her finger at that picture again.

Gosh! Seems like I am already having a little debate with my little 14months old girl, who insisted that the word daddy means "man".

First Encyclopedia - 14months old

Zo Ee at 14months 3days old. (14/6/2009)

We bought Zo Ee her first encyclopedia few months ago but have been reserving it and only introduced it to her last week. This is a very simple, clear and lively version especially designed for young, inquiring minds; which consist 158 pages, with most information simply written in a short paragraph(3-6 short sentences) with large print and many large colourful pictures.

My intention is to let her explore it at her own pace, so I have left the book in the living hall for her own comfort browsing; flipping through the pages as and when she likes. Surprisingly, she is excited and loves to browse over it again and again as she is so attached to those titles in big print, which she already know many of them.

Overheard !
As she was browsing this encyclopedia alone, I am amazed as she does understand many words (especially the title in each page), pointing at them and those related pictures while saying them aloud. She even acted out some of the words in her own way with enthusiasm. My observation tells me that she enjoys every second of it, especially seeing those familiar words and related pictures.

Some of Zo Ee’s simple perception.

Babies

She will say “Baby, baby, baby”, while pointing her little finger at the title babies. When she looked further, she said “baby, baby” with excitement while pointing at the baby in the picture. She was smiling and moving around the room, repeatedly saying “baby, baby” before returning to the book for another page of excitement.

Birds

“Bird, bird” while pointing at the title birds, before spending more time , seriously checking on each birds on that page. When she saw the peacock, another familiar bird to her, she got all excited again; walking around the room excitedly while kept saying “bird, bird, bird” as she couldn’t say the word “peacock” yet.

Dance

Though Zo Ee can recognize this title- dance (not pronouncing it yet), she was all excited again upon seeing it, doing her own dancing; moving her arms and body – her own version of dancing. Then she will point at the title dance again and repeat her dancing with excitement. She will keep doing this until she finally decided to move on to another new page.

Light

Light is a new word to her as I have never taught her before, other than the word “lighting”. But I am amazed that she was able to relate this word to the word “lighting” itself and pointing to the living hall’s lighting excitedly.

Moon

She's extremely obsessed with this page on the moon. She kept looking for it many times a day. She loves to say “oon, oon, oon” while pointing at the picture of the moon excitedly. Each time, whenever she gets excited, she will more around, make one small round in the living hall before coming back to that particular page. It seems there is such a need to exhibit her excitement which is beyond her control.

Sometimes, she will share her excitement and knowledge with me if I'm around the living room; telling me some of those words aloud while pointing at them. She loves to get my acknowledgement and response; positively praising her effort and giving her extra encouragement and motivation.

Also in the coming weeks, I may occasionally look out for opportunity to read her a fact or two while she is browsing it herself. "Why fact? Isn't this too early for her?" From the Glenn Doman's book "How to give your baby encyclopedia knowledge", the basis of all intelligence is facts. Without facts there can be no intelligence. With a small number of facts human brain can come to a small number of conclusions. With a huge number of facts it can come to a huge number of conclusions. If they are related facts the number of conclusions is breathtaking based on the mathematical law called the law of combinations and permutations. For example, by giving the child ten related facts, this will give him/her 3,628,800 connections in his/her knowledge bank and growing his/her brain every time he/she does.

"How sad it is that we put information into a computer with great skill and great precision and put information into our children's brains in a hit-or-miss, slip-slop, sloppy, and often untruthful way. Remember that, unlike the computer, we can never totally erase a fact that we put into our baby's brain. They will remain as the first response available on recall. They will remain if they are true and they will remain if they are untrue. " - Glenn Doman

(So never try to fool your child with any untrue facts, just tell him/her that you don't know the answer and will look it up, and promise to share with him/her later.)

"Motivation is a product of success!" - Glenn Doman.

Note: the above is not Glenn Doman's method in giving your child encyclopedia knowledge, he uses bit of intelligence. This blog is just to share with you the importance of giving your child "facts".

Getting demanding - 14months old

Zo Ee is 14months 2days old. (13/6/2009)

My little Zo Ee is getting more demanding day by day. She is getting extremely persistent and will keep whining to get things her way; when she wants to watch her choice of VCD (some times), she wants her coloured pencils for drawing if she does see them nearby (keeping them out of her reach), she wants mummy’s attention or she wants Mummy/Daddy to read to her. She is not easily distracted from her wants anymore and will want them instantly too. “Phew! “

As for just now, she was persevering and pressing daddy to let her hold the computer’s mouse. When daddy took her away from the computer desk, she kept saying “ Mou, Mou, Mou, Mou,” and because she couldn’t reach it herself, she insisted daddy to carry her and directed daddy towards it. Once, she was at the desk with daddy, she was happily touching the mouse (mostly because she was attracted to the transparent mouse with a few led lights on it). She will repeat her whining if daddy were to take her away, not until she’s fully satisfied with her little exploration and imitation(imitating us using the mouse) of the day.

"Is it good or bad to give in to her demand?" It may not be good that we(daddy/mummy) give in to her immediately, especially if she is demanding in a bad way. Restricting her from touching a harmless object will only restrict her learning. So the best way will be to correct her way of asking, teaching her how to ask in a proper way, and supervise her little exploration with additional teaching/knowledge (what a mouse is used for or other related information about it). This is indeed the best time to give or add knowledge to her especially when she is most keen on the object/subject itself. To me, this is a good opportunity to teach, as baby will tend to listen and happily learn about thing that curious him/her.

Little Bear - 13months old

Zo Ee at 13months 3weeks old. (7/6/2009)

Size and weight does matter!

I thought my little Zo Ee has little interest in dolls or her bears, but when we got her this little light weight bear (from IKEA recently), instantly it becomes Zo Ee’s favourite. This must be the appropriate size of the bear, correctly proportionate to her own small size, which makes handling and cuddling easy for her as compared to her other bigger bears and dolls. With the present of this bear, I can see endless affection shown by Zo Ee daily to her “baby bear”, that’s the way Zo Ee called it.

She indeed intentionally posed for these photos willingly.

So light in weight.

Milestones - 13months old

Zo Ee at 13months 4weeks old. (10/6/2009)

Zo Ee is going to be 14 months old tomorrow and here is a summary of Zo Ee's milestones:

Walking

• Zo Ee is pretty stable in her toddling though her hands are still in the air, for extra balancing. She can walk to and fro across the room; she can turn about and walk to her ideal directions. She even loves walking while holding a little toy/remote control in her hand. She can stamp/kick her feet will holding onto a support. She also loves pushing chairs / stools around.

Language

• Actively communicating, naming and pointing at objects and colours. She is saying more than a word, usually two words at a time(nouns and adjectives). Currently, she is using about 100 one syllable words (nouns, action words, and adjectives), a few two syllables words (mummy, daddy, baby, lighting, apple, baby, purple, puppy, hair band).
• She can recognize more than 800 written words. (I didn’t really count, these are limited to those that I can count from her word cards) She already knows her colours, alphabets, 40 vehicles, 40 foods, 40 fruits and vegetables, 40 animals, 40 daily necessities , 40 body parts and many musical instruments, many sea creatures last month(12months old) and new addition to her vocabulary this month; at least 24 birds, 24 flowers, 25 insects, flags and countries , dinosaurs , opposites, tools and stationery, days, months, seasons and new action words/nouns.
• Zo Ee can read new words, even words that she has not seen before. Eg:" Citigem", and many big words on the newspaper.
• She is interested in reading short sentences from books.
• She can mimic most sounds, therefore picking up new words quickly this month.
• Zo Ee can understand many simple instructions and answer simple questions, eg: "What time is it now?" (will look at the clock), "What colour is it?" (she is able to answer me correctly, whether the object is blue, green, red, pink, brown, etc) "Hold and bring water(sippy cup) to the kitchen table / sofa." (she will hold onto it and place it on the table/sofa).
• Imitates us talking, as if she wanted to join us when daddy and mummy were busy talking to each other, Zo Ee will babble sounds loudly like she is talking a foreign language.
• Imitates mummy saying “wait wait wait wait”
• Acting out action words /nouns from books; “ hat hat” while patting her hands on her head, indicating putting hat on her head. Jump if sees the word jump. Stretch if she sees the word stretch.
• Names pictures/words in books by pointing at them and saying them aloud.
• Calls "jeh-jeh" to girls without being told at times.
• Says "inish" (finish) together with hand gesture indicating end of a show (VCD) or when finished her food.
• Will say "more" if she wants more food, else she will shake her head no.
  
  

Indicating want:

• Combines words and gestures to make her needs known,
  eg: "bed" (bread) while pointing at the bread, "more! more! peas.." while pointing at the bowl of peas. “pen haa…” while pointing at the drawing kits , indicating her drawing time.
• Has her owns preference, choosing biscuits from a variety of choices by pointing at her choice.
• She will hold onto her VCDs’ holder and telling me “emm…haaa..” indicating her wants to watch VCD.
• She will pass mummy the harmonica, and then telling me to blow the harmonica “bow bow”.

Numbers/maths

• Can perceive 0-100dots (10months old), and recognized numbers 0-100(learn from DVD - educational programmes)
• She is able to do 3-steps maths equations. (Combination of addition with subtraction or multiplication with division.)
• If mummy/daddy says 1,2 she will continue "3". If we say 1,2,3,4…8,9 she will say "10".
  

Love

• To browse books. Read aloud words that she can say.
• Interactive reading; making animals' sound or acting out action words as she reads along.
• Watches her favourite VCD programmes.
• Plays hide and seek.
• Loves to play the “STOP” game, will stop walking when she hears the word stop.
• Being tickle.
• Surprises
• Calling "mummy, mummy" all day long.

Fine motor skills

• She helps mummy by trying to pull down her own pants.
• Closed containers tightly.
• Fit simple puzzle correctly; circles into the number 8, oblong shape into the number 0, 1 into its correct slot or 7 into its correct slot.
• Scribbles with markers or crayons, making dots with pencils,
• Slots coloured pencils back into the holder
• Able to put and balance a little pillow on her head
• Climbing onto the sofa (reach for higher height)
• Bends over to pick up objects
• Scoops and pours water onto the floor with a sand scoop.
• Sprinkles waters with her fingers.
• Undo (pull down) a zip.

Emotion

• Shows affection to her new bear; cuddle and kiss
• Becomes more social, initiate friendship by walking up to little kids
• Smiles at others.
• Afraid (cry) seeing some fearful animals on tv, eg-iguana, some insects.
  
  

Senses

• Sings along – "meri…eee, meri….ee, meri….ee" (row row row your boat), "baby wow…wow..wow" or "mummy hush hush hush" (the wheels on the bus) or hums or babbles along a song.
• Love dancing along with music – jumping(feet not leaving the floor) while moving her arms/hands up and down, or swaying them left to right (rotating her body left-right).
• Locating telephone sound and telling me “daddy” (daddy calling) while pointing at the telephone.
• Loves soft pillows.
  
  

Memory

• Saying "bra bra" while pointing to her toothbrush, reminding mummy to brush her teeth.
• Looks for objects where she last saw them. (When mummy asked her where a particular toy is.)
• Does not forget immediately and persists in wanting something you have taken away. (eg: sweet)
• She will look for a particular toy in the toy box, removing the rest until she finds her choice.
• She will look up a particular page upon hearing mummy reciting a specific line.
• Completing songs /rhymes after mummy, filling in more missing words – ABC song, 1,2 rhymes, twinkle twinkle little star
• She knows where the fish corner is at the supermarket, and will direct us towards it.
• Can recognize and point out “yeh-yeh” (my father-in-law) from the photo after FIL came here for a week stayed. Of course she can recognize both mummy and daddy in the photo too.
  
  

Intellectual skill

• She protests when she does not get her own way. (Wanting to walk by herself, trying to climb out of her cot, trying to open doors, pushes away obstacles that are blocking her way)
• She is constantly trying and practicing on a new skill/toy.
• She acts to please and to annoy us.
• Imitates more, watching and copying actions; Imitates self-feeding with a spoon, dip dip the bowl before bringing the spoon towards her mouth
• Recognizes herself in the mirror, when asked “who is that?“ she will tap at her chest indicating herself. And can recognize herself in a photo too, happily smilling looking at it while taping at her chest, indicating herself.
• When mummy asked, “who is Zo Ee?” She will tap a few times at her chest ,indicating she is Zo Ee.
• Relates real objects/food with those found in books. Will look up for them in a particular page.
• Will rush to grab and hand mummy the DVD’s remote control when she sees mummy putting a disc into the player.
• She knows the exact spot where to sit to watch her tv programmes and will move over and sit there by herself (if she is in a good mood). Usually will sit only at the beginning of the show, longer if she is in a good mood.
• When in a good mood, she will put the remote controls back into the remote control’s holder without being told. (She removes them more than putting them back in place.)
  

Some of Zo Ee's 2 syllables words.

Mummy! Mummy! Mummy! - 13months old

Zo Ee at 13months 4weeks old. (8/6/2009)

Just not long ago, I was thrilled when Zo Ee started calling me mummy. But here I am, not even a month; I’m feeling overwhelmed some of the days, as my little darling loves and keeps calling me "mummy" the whole day. Zo Ee calls “mummy, mummy, mummy,” the moment she wakes up, whenever she loves to do so – just for fun (showing her affection), if she is awakes in the middle of the night, whenever she sees me, even when I come out of the bathroom after my bath each time, or whenever she wants something, and worse of all when she cries as she will be wailing “ma…meeeeeeeeee, ma….meeeee…, ma…..meeee….” none stop throughout her crying. Hearing her calling me a few hundreds time a day is really no joke at all and no wonder, she can pronounce it perfectly well now since she has been practicing real hard everyday… " hee hee hee"

How to raise an amazing child - Montessori way

Last week, while I was looking for some ideas of activities where I can spend time productively with Zo Ee, I stumbled upon this book in the library; It’s about the Montessori way to bring up caring, confident children. I like it very much, as some of the practice is pretty similar to my own approach at home with Zo Ee, which solely based on my observation and consciousness. And I am very glad that I’m doing a good job with Zo Ee by encouraging her doing most of her activities independently. I always show her the correct way to do things and will encourage her to do them herself, eg. she will put away her toys into the container(as early as 8 months old) or put coloured pencils back into their holder. But all these need a lot of patience and extra work (extra cleaning and supervision) as these little tasks may be easily done by any adults but it may take a baby/toddler a lot of effort, much longer time to do them, and a lot of practise to master them. Nevertheless, once a new skill is learnt, it is something the child can carry with him/her in life.

Excerpt from the book “How to raise an amazing child.”
“While not every teacher is a parent, every parent is a teacher.”

“Children pass through “sensitive periods” in which they are primed to learn, and some of these opportunities don’t come twice.”

“Give the right stimulation at the right time, children are able to learn almost unconsciously.”

Ideas that I like from this book:

• Neat and tidy – creates a sense of order that encourages children to become self-disciplined and independent – keep toys on shelves she can easily reach rather than putting them away in a toy box. An orderly environment – when everything has its set place your child can easily maintain order in her room. (young children have a tremendous need and love for an orderly environment.)
• Independence is the greatest drive of a young child. While working to achieve it, children have fun practicing and mastering many skills. (care of himself; buttoning up, shoe polishing, learning to pour, bow-tying, preparing a snack, everyday tasks around the house; sweeping up, dries the dishes, washing dishes, dustbuster) Children want to be part of your world. For them, work is every bit as much fun as play if they are given the chance to do it. Children need to be shown new skills in simple ways they can understand-Setting the table, ride a bike, washing hands, brushing teeth, bath time, brushing hair, introducing toileting, getting dressed.
• Free to roam – babies need to move about and explore in order to learn.
• Art appreciation – encourage your child to display his finished work.
• Keeping a journal of your child’s activities and achievements.
• Encourage young children to focus their attention more carefully on the physical world.
• Exercises that develop children’s sensory awareness help them to appreciate their world much more fully for the rest of their lives. (sensory activities: sorting objects, stacking cubes, simple puzzles, matching colour charts, concentration game-matching pairs, sound, the silence game, listening to music, texture matching, the mystery bag, smell, taste)
• We can help our children to learn good behaviour - courtesy and compassion by demonstration, reassurance and unconditional love.
• It’s better to teach your child the right way to act than to wait for him to misbehave, then scold, threaten or punish him.
• Our goal should be to help our children to become mature, independent and responsible. Unfortunately, as parents, we sometimes overprotect our children, not realizing that they can only learn about life through experience, just as we did.
• We work to create a home in which they can learn to function as independent, thinking people. To succeed, we need to treat them with respect as full and complete human beings, who happen to be in our care. Our children need to feel that it is fine to be themselves. If they believe that they are not living up to our expectations or that we are disappointed in the people that they are becoming, then there is a good chance that their lives will be emotionally scared.
• Children are little scientists – children have an inbuilt drive for discovery. Encourage you child to observe the world and to feel a sense of wonder for everything in it.
• Positive approach to discipline – don’t punish, teach. Cut down on “NO”.

Reading Alphabet – 13months

Zo Ee at 13months 3weeks old. (4/6/2009)

Yesterday, Zo Ee amazed me again. I overheard her reading aloud the alphabet while she was browsing the alphabet book herself. Ooops…she indeed managed to read and say most of the alphabet except W, X, Y but I didn't manage to capture all of it. By the time I caught hold of the video camera, she was already reading I,and J and she was so engrossed in her reading that she didn't notice me at all. Unfortunately, when she did notice me with the video camera, she stopped reading and was more interested in my video camera instead. I tried to recapture by asking her to read for me again (part 2), but she did not read as loud and didn't really coorperate. This encountered also reminds me of few days ago, where she indeed pointed at the Parking sign, "P" at the road side, telling us aloud "P!" but we didn't really take note at that time as she is pretty active in trying to communicate with us lately.

Though I have taught her the alphabet but all this while I did not really emphasize for her to master them because letters/alphabet are abstract to little one. There is no way that we can explain what is a letter “A or B or C” is? They are something one has to accept as they are. So I rather teach her words first, and from there she can associate words with letters herself. And I have never borrowed any alphabet book for her prior to this nor does she own any. Even this one, I was a little hesitant whether to borrow for her last weekend, but I finally gave in because there are some sentences at the bottom of each page. I was more interested at those sentences than those letters at each page.

Hmm…although we did know that Zo Ee recognizes all her alphabet (a few months ago) but the present of this book has display Zo Ee’s hidden ability, reading them as well.

Note: While this video was captured in the morning, the above photo was taken after bath, intentionally posing for this blog . (Do excuse the mess around the sofa, that's the usual mess created by Zo Ee everyday while browsing her books).

Zo Ee says more than a word... 13months old

Zo Ee at 13months 3weeks old. (3/6/2009)

Most of the morning, Zo Ee usually gets up earlier than me. And since the day she knows how to call me mummy, her first word will always be “ma…mee, ma…mee” moving herself nearest to me from her cot. Sometimes, I’ll just ignore her and pretend to be sleeping. If she is hungry, she will say “ma..mee…ma…mee… nan-nan, nan-nan”. If I refuse to respond, she will get louder, “ma..mee, ma…mee… Hmmm!! Hmmm!!” with all her discomfort sound while banging her hands at the cot rail. She will quiet down if she sees me awake and make her milk. Zo Ee will be smiling at me while waiting happily in her cot.

Whenever she sees me awake from my sleep, she will try to initiate a conversation with me. She loves to point to a particular object and tells me about it. Her favourite are the cupboard, fan, lightings, blanket, switch, door and bed. And this morning, she was pointing to the fan, telling me “han”, when I replied her,”yes, it is a fan.” Then she continued “bow” (blow) and made some blowing sound “foo…foo..”. Hmm…my little Zo Ee is trying to make up a short sentence here, so I replied "yes, the fan is blowing."

The other day, when daddy’s home and left his bag near the doorway, Zo Ee went over, tapping at the bag, and telling me “baa..a” (bag), when I said ‘yes, it’s a bag.” Then she continued, “bla..at” (black). Only then I realized that she was trying to tell me, it’s a black bag. So I replied her “yes Zo Ee, it is a black bag.”


When she sees me wearing a jeans.
Zo Ee : “jeans, …jeans” pointing at my jeans.
Mummy: “yes, mummy is wearing a jeans.”
Zo Ee: “blu” (blue) if my jeans is blue or “bla…at” (black) if I was wearing a black one.

Surprisingly she understood that jeans is actually a type of cloth-material as she can recognize different colour of jeans; black or different shade of blue , she will tell us “jeans”….“blu” or even if it is a jeans shorts, she will still tell us “jeans”. And she has never call other clothes jeans other than jeans clothes.

When she sees me wearing a pooh t-shirt.
Zo Ee: “bear…bear…bear” pointing at my t-shirt
Mummy: “yes, there is pooh bear on mummy’s shirt."
Zo Ee: “ grr…grr….” (imitating bear growls)

She’s also very observant and will tell me the colour of my blouse or t-shirt whether it is “blu” (blue), “bla…at” (black), ‘ink” (pink), "geen" (green) or the colour of my shorts each time I have a new one on.

If it is a car: Zo Ee: "car, beep...beep"

If it is an aeroplane: Zo Ee: "pane, ....zoom"

Read and says - 13months old

Zo Ee at 13months 3weeks old (3/6/2009)
Total = 107 words

55 new words
Tart, tank, ood(food), pane(aeroplane), skunks, bi..bi..(biscuits), pie, drum, bot (boat), neigh, near, dat(dad), mall(small), style, pop, brr..mmm, mou(mouse), jay(bluejay), mile (smile), beef, tee(empty), foo(full), mooth (smooth), broom, bed, bed(bread), mao(meow), me, grrr…(bear growls), beep beep (car horn), eese(cheese), or(door), shoo(shoes), aet(straight), ik(Sticks), hen, bib, knee, air(a), b, hee(c), d, g, jay(j), kay(k), p, r, t, wee(v), zaa..at(z).

2 syllables words:
maa…me (mummy), daa…dee(daddy), bay…be (baby), ligh…ing(lighting), a…ple(apple)

Zo Ee may have know more than the above mentioned, I am just recording what’s on my mind.

.....................................................
Zo Ee's other utterance

12months old (32 words)
hi, eeth(teeth), sitch(switch), baa(bat, blanket), poon(spoon), blu(blue), ange(orange), geen(green), calf, bee, bok(book), Ush(brush), haa(hat, hand), ate(plate), ting (lighting), pen (pen, pencil), tee(tree) , shh, drink(ink), girl(gr), moon(oon), ring(ing), woof(oof), pink(ink), brown(bown), black(ba..at), baa..(sheep-sound), key, she, jeans

10months - 11months old (18 words)
duck, star, car, moo-moo, ple (apple), baa....(bus), , ba (basket), ish(fish), ding-ding-ding(bicycle), bye(waving her hand), ball, bear, pear, ti...er(tiger), hair, bird, hiss-hiss(snake), tock-tock-tock (clock),


9months plus (2 words)
mum-mum (food)
nan-nan (milk)


7months plus
mama, papa


5months plus
dada


3months plus
nan-nan

My dedication to my baby.

Caring for a little baby is an extremely challenging job. Some may think that taking care of a little one is merely, feeding and changing diapers and thus what the big deal about it!

First, the decision to be a full-time mummy is a tough one. One has to be willing to give up ones’ desire career and time with colleagues and friends. Some times, I do miss my time in the office, tea breaks and lunch with friends, and those chatting and giggles we used to have (Now, my only company in the day time is baby). Besides, stopped working means switching from a double income to a single income family, with this, I have to give up a lot of luxury entertainments and shopping. When I was working, I could afford to buy myself big items without a second thought but now, spending is a think think event!

Many think that being a full-time mummy is a relaxing time at home, working is hard work therefore working daddy deserved rest when at home. But this isn’t true. If daddy comes home and get rest without helping around, meaning mummy will need to work 24hours a day, 7days a week and 365days a year without a break. That’s the toughest job in the world.

Previously, I used to think that nothing can be more difficult than my designing job; with tight schedules, working with endless people and forever overtime till midnight and over the weekends. But if you were to ask me this question again, I’ll say that "I was wrong. Nothing is more tough and challenging than being a new mother and caring for a baby at home." Baby demands love, attention, and care every second, every minute round the clock, meaning there is no real break or rest. Last time, no matter how busy at work, once I reached home, I could drop everything and sleep peacefully for at least a few hours in a stretch. It is a luxury if any mummy(with baby) can have a 100% peaceful night sleep. Also no matter how tired I am now, I have to wait untill baby asleep before I can retire to bed myself.

I believe all mummies are sensitive towards their babies’ need, like me, I’m awake when baby whines or cries a little or even a little sneezes in the middle of the night. Though I may not be attending to her, still I’m constantly worrying over my baby well-being. Is she too hot or is she cold or did she have a nightmare or is she hungry etc… Sometimes, a sick or teething baby will keep on crying for comfort and the persistent loud crying will drive anyone out of his/her mind. Some times, this even resulted me in hearing her cries in my head while sleeping. Nevertheless, I still have to keep myself compose and calm while tending to my discomfort child selflessly.

Being a full-time mummy, I highly respected my current responsibility. I am treating it as a full-time professional job with passion and dedication. Basically, my job starts when baby awakes in the morning, tending to her basics and emotional needs and other development. My days never end until baby asleep at night. And this including weekends, public holiday and there isn’t annual leave entitlement for a stay home mummy, even if I fall sick, I still have to be my baby’s mummy. There is little I can do (house chores) when baby is awake, as I don’t want to confine her to a playpen which constricts her development. I have a little area for her to play and roam and thus this needs constant monitoring, which is extremely tiring for me. Most of the day, she will be roaming and playing freely, but I am very particular that she sits and has a proper meal at the table and picks up her toys before bedtime. The other confining time is when I make milk for her; she will wait for me in her cot.

Some may think that I’m putting too much stress upon myself for being a perfect parent. Frankly speaking, I am just doing my best everyday for my child well-beings. Caring for a little baby is very different from managing a whole group of people. You can order around and plan your day while in the office but these do not apply when tending to a little baby. A parent can only adopt and adapt ways that work best with their baby with constant changes and new methods which may work better as baby grows older. Sensitivity and Flexibility is the key. Work in the office can be delayed an hour or two but a crying baby cannot wait even another second.

Since the day baby arrived, baby becomes my main focus. Everyday and everything revolves around baby. Moreover, I believe in early development, therefore, I spend time and always looking for new opportunity to help my little one grows. Therefore I am spending a lot of time playing and coaching her everyday. Even when I'm doing the dishes, I'll be telling her what I am doing, which is a plate or a spoon? Also I choose to spend time playing with her than watching the television. I do not have the luxury time to watch any tv drama or movie anymore, not to mention my favourite “American Idol.” As for this season, I did not see any nor am aware that the show was ongoing and just over. The only programme I watch is Baby’s programmes where I watch them with my little baby.

For the pass one year, most of my favourites have to be put on hold – reading the newspaper, most of the days; I only look at the headlines without opening the newspaper, so it is as new as it was being delivered at the door steps. Shopping now is for baby stuffs and baby food. What will she be having this week and so on? The only luxury time I have is after baby asleep, that’s when I have time to write my blog (recording baby development and memories) and the books I read are baby development books, updating and equipping myself on baby know how as I’m learning to be a mummy to a toddler now, so there is a need for constant learning. There are many other books I wish to read and tv shows that I wish to watch but am giving baby number one priority at this moment. Other things can wait but not baby’s opportunity to learn and long-term growth and development at these crucial years.

“ When we take a closer look, we may see that we have been selfish, insensitive, and extremely short-sighted to design the baby’s environment almost totally for our comfort and convenience, thus denying the baby his birthright to move and explore and develop his abilities to their fullest. “ – Glenn Doman

"Why is teaching and coaching so important now?" Some may think, no such need to stress up yourself. Let babies be babies. They will learn by themselves. (Through accidental discoveries) Children can learn later in school. Teachers will teach them. "Why wait if baby can learn effectively and painlessly now? Why want our child to struggle in school later and many years ahead (after the window opportunity of learning closed at 6years old) if learning can be fun and effortless now?" I believe that proper development in all area will ensure proper wiring in the brain which determines future ability of the child. This is the main reason that I am helping my little one to learn every moment of everyday.I even go to the extent to learn on subject that I dislike; dinasaurs, so that I can share it with my baby. Though dinasaurs has never been a topic that I wanted to know or learn, but I am learning about it now, because I do not want to deprive my baby from knowing it. Baby ought to learn about everything and anything.

“After more than a half-century of watching our babies grow up, we are convinced that what the baby will be like as an adult in terms of physical and neurological ability is determined more strongly in the first year of life than in any other period.” – Glenn Doman

“Do we join baby or get in his way? If we join baby, we enter a world that is exciting and dynamic. Nothing stays the same in this world of the tiny child. Baby changes every day and this means we have to change too. Sometimes it is hard work for us to change, especially every day! The prize, however is a happy, respected, productive, and highly capable child who loves and respects his parents and values the good teaching, wisdom, and experience of the adults around him. The truth is that this process begins right now: not when he is six or ten or fifteen but right now. This is the moment.” – Glenn Doman.

Of course, occasionally, I do take a break, sitting at the Coffee Beans, sipping my favourite coffee, and have some quiet time away from my little one, to recharge and relax myself or do some thinking and reflection on my own needs.