I was pretty mad at Zo Ee for messing the house. She did some craft work, and pieces of papers are all over the dining hall, together with her stationeries - colours, pencils, containers to hold her cut out pieces, toys etc. Just a Mess. I told her to tidy up or else I will pick them up and throw them into the dustbin. She started picking up a little before telling me this, " Mum! Mum! You shouldn't throw my toys and stationery into the dustbin. They are not waste! You only throw waste into the dustbin. It will be a waste to throw them away. We shouldn't waste food or anything at all. "
I don't really remember when she started saying something like this (I'm guessing since 3 years 3months old.) When I told her that she can choose only one drink from the menu while dining out, this is her usual reply. " Mum, I'll have mango milkshakes and you will have ice lemon tea. I think you will like the Ice Lemon Tea. Then, we can share. You will have some of mine and I'll have some of yours." This happened to food too. She will ask us to order two or three of her choices, then DH will be included in her list.
Zo Ee at 3years 5months old. (22nd September 2011)
I am very impressed as how Zo Ee learns on her own. I'm not sure whether is this a plain trait of giftedness or she is just plain special. When Zo Ee reached home today, the first thing she did is to reach for some books from the book shelf. She climbed onto a stool and reached for 4 basic grammar books which I bought for her few months ago. They covered topic like Pronouns, Past Tense, Future Tense, Adverb, Adjectives, Adverb of Degree, Adverb of Frequency and Conjunctions. I did saw Zo Ee read them once or twice when I first bought them and we have not read them together. I thought maybe at a later stage. Today seeing her re-read all of them immediately after school really triggered me that she's trying to read more on something similar to what she had been exploring yesterday at the "Reading & Writing" section from Brainpop. Jr. My guessing is that she's trying to relink and make connection from both resources. Am I right?
Few days ago, I saw a Multiplication workbook with an attractive CD at a bargain price, S$5.50 at the local bookshop and couldn’t resist buying it. If I see a book or a toy that I like, I’ll have to buy it immediately whether its on bargain or not because people here don’t keep stock; what you see is what you get and you won’t be able to get two same items at the same shop. Neither will they help you to order later or re-order their same old stocks. Basically, imported books and toys are treated like precious here; children are not supposed to touch it.
When I got home, Zo Ee was excited seeing the new book, immediately she wanted to do multiplication. My idea was to keep it for her later, maybe after she knows her time tables as I have not yet introduced any to her. She insisted and ended up copying the answers from the table provided with the book. She finished these in 10minutes; 2 pages for 10 minutes not bad but most importantly she was satisfied. This really makes me think at her other current workbooks; where she will finish a dozen pages in that same amount of time. I’m thinking which is more appropriate for her? She can do 20 addition sums (up to 10) in less than 5 minutes and not as fast for addition sums more than 10.
She ended up dancing with her Minnie along with these multiplication songs. This is a typical her, dancing freely in front of the television which acts as her mirror; she can actually dance up to 2 hours non-stop, pausing only during songs transition. and not getting tired. She may sit down to read a book after that.
Recently, a few incidents really make me think, should I treat her like a 3 year old or a 6 year old? If she is capable of doing things like an average 6 year old, why would I hesitate to teach her Chess or multiplication or 2nd grade math but will allow her to play other toys beyond that age without second thought. Am I being fair to restrict her just because she is 3 now or will I restrict her of these similar activities if she were to be six? In fact, she has started singing along on her second day, so I foresee she’ll know her multiplication very soon.
Zo Ee 's reading Stories to Treasure(17 stories, 284pages) by herself. As can be seen, she is reading pages with more and more words and paragraphs. Some sample pages shown below.
Zo Ee woke up at 11pm; about the time for Mummy and Daddy to go to bed, and wanted to read books by herself. Mummy waited for her for a short while but was too tired, so Mummy left the light on for her to read by herself. When Mummy was awakened at 2.15 am, little Zo Ee was still reading. Mummy rushed her to bed, and by the time she finished another story, had milk, it was already 2.45am. She didn't fall asleep until 3am. So, she missed school the next day.
Little Zo Ee has been telling Mummy, "Zo Ee is scared. Numbers can dance and letters can sing!" Ha! ha! Little Zo Ee is confused; she cannot understand why non-living things (numbers and letters in her VCD) can sing and dance. So Mummy explained to her, "There is nothing to be afraid off, they are not real, this is called animation."
Today little Zo Ee surprised the waiter and those sitting next to our table. She thanked the waiter spontaneously, "Thank you." for setting up her high chair.
Upon hearing this, the mother (sitting at the next table) was telling her teenage children, "all of you should learn from her."
What an unexpected big THANK YOU from my little fellow....
................................................................................ Then thank you - 19-month old
What would you do when your toddler throws things/toys onto the floor to free some space for her/him/ toys; for example throwing magazines onto the floor so that she can use the coffee table to do her drawing?
Do you scream at her for throwing the magazines onto the floor? Which I believe most Asian will do that; especially the older generation. Maybe some may even spank the little child for doing so which is such a sad event to see. It’s so sad; many caretakers only scream and yell at the little ones for their inappropriate doings without guiding them or showing them the correct way to face the situation. It’s often heard, “Don’t throw! Why did you throw them onto the floor?” But they never offered any solution or guidance so that the child will know how to handle such similar situation in the future. How sad?
As responsible parents; we should evaluate each situation calmly and soundly (not to be affected by our bad mood or tiredness.). Did the child do it on purpose? If yes, why is it so? Is he/she seeking attention? Have we been ignoring him/her for quite some time due to house chores or have we been away from him/her for sometime?
Try to see what is the reason behind? As for the example above, parents should tell the child that it’s inappropriate to throw things onto the floor, even though to make way for his own activities. Parents may teach/guide them to put away their toys or put aside the magazines or ask Mummy/Daddy to help. Of course the best solution is to get a table for the child for his/her own activities.
Moreover, parents didn’t see the bad example of themselves in screaming/yelling at the little child. Over the time, it will come the time when the little child yells back at his/her parents. And when this happened, the parents get angry; blaming the child for misbehaving and rude. Can you guess what happened? Again the child gets punished for yelling. Why are so many parents (Asian) scream and yell at their children while expecting their children to behave politely in return? This doesn’t make sense to me at all.
Once my university professor told the class; “Never scold your child STUPID.” This is because your child actually reflects you yourself. Your child is your own reflection!
What I hate most is parents like to belittle the child in public. They like to make comments like, “Aunty is looking at you.”, “Aunty will scold you.”, “Uncle laughs at you.”, “People laugh at you.” Again these selfish parents are using these inappropriate statements to tame the child without noticing the severe damage that can be done to the child. These are all negatives statements that can harm the child’s self-esteem for life.
We are in the mid of moving abroad to Goa, India for a period of 2 -3 years. Life is so hectic and chaotic with many activities prior to this moving and also in the coming few weeks until we settled in our new home in Goa.
There are so many things to blog and update, but Mummy has no time to do so with this major event - moving abroad. Even though we are currently staying along the Orchard Road, Singapore for 3 nights already but Mummy has yet anytime to go shopping or leave the hotel to walk around this famous and busy shopping place of Singapore...
Therefore, no matter how busy and hectic life is to the family currently, Mummy and Daddy are trying our best to maintain and keep little Zo Ee 's lifestyle as normal as possible. We are trying not to neglect her needs due to this whole moving process. Although, balancing is not as easy but we will try our best not to put unnecessary stress resulting from us or this moving onto her. Nevertheless, we can sense the moving effect on her already as she is more in tantrum lately; especially whenever we are too busy or occupied with other activities. One good example is during the day when professional packers came over to our home to help us packed. The whole house was so crowded with helpers helping us to pack, and Mummy and Daddy were busy attending to these helpers all the time while little Zo Ee was left alone the whole day; watching VCD one after another just to keep her occupied.
Little Zo Ee's reading her heap of newly borrowed library books. She reads about 16-18 new books every 4-5days interval. Books with 1-5 sentences per page, about 20 pages per book.
Little Zo Ee can spend hours reading all by herself, until she finished every book. All this while, Mummy believe that little Zo Ee has been silent reading to herself. Mummy's guessing was proven right after today's incident - little Zo Ee read aloud another whole new book to Mummy out of the blue. Also it's a common belief that children who can read usually can silent read words long before reading them aloud because they can read at a faster pace while silent read.
As Mummy had mentioned earlier, Mummy has never emphasized or forced little Zo Ee to read aloud during our reading sessions (more of a knowledge imparting session). Also little Zo Ee always has the freedom to choose her activities/books, to learn and play at her own comfort pace. So it's not common to hear little Zo Ee read aloud long sentences although little Zo Ee first read an entire early reader book at 15 month old, some longer sentences a month later and recently she was very eager in reading aloud to Mummy (without the need to finger point at each words.) And just now, while browsing through her newly borrowed books, little Zo Ee surprised Mummy when she read another whole new book out loud; a preK-2 level book titled : We Need School Bus Drivers. Of course, Mummy's not surprised with Zo Ee's reading skill as she can read most sight words, even big words she has no ideas of with her natural phonics and her vast vocabulary. Moreover, little Zo Ee can read more than a thousand words since few months ago, and Mummy has lost count of her growing vocabulary as its constantly growing with her daily consistent reading habit. Rough estimation should be a few thousands words by now. But reading continuously needed a very different skill as it requires both stamina and eye coordination - in tracing each words simultaneously.
A sample page of this book.
Little Zo Ee read the complete content of this book aloud to Mummy : We need school bus drivers. She was indeed reading this book for the very first time.
"School bus drivers drive children to and from school. School bus drivers make sure buses are safe and clean. School bus drivers pick up children at school bus stops. School bus drivers put out a stop sign. They turn on flashing lights. Then cars stop to let children cross the street. School bus drivers open bus doors. Children get on the buses. Some children need help getting on buses. School bus drivers help them. School bus drivers stop at schools. They make sure children get off the buses safely. School bus drivers pick up children after school. They drive children back to their bus stops. School bus drivers help keep children safe." (112 words)
.................................................................... Then
Zo Ee with her new sandals. Mummy's not keen in buying crocs shoes for little Zo Ee after so many happening of children's foot got trapped at the escalator all around the world. Nevertheless, Mummy decided to get Zo Ee a pair from Cotton On Kids (similar design) for her future swimming trips. We will just need to be extra careful not to let her use during our shopping trips with the presence of many escalators.
Little Zo Ee's very keen in learning how to put them on herself. Initially, she needed extra support for balancing from the sofa; holding and leaning against it.
Persistent little Zo Ee spent many hours trying out her new sandals, perfecting her skill. Slowly, after she had figured out how to put them on with support, she challenged herself further to the same task; this time without support from the sofa. First, she tried sitting on the floor before moving on; tried putting them on while standing alone without any support.
Finally, little Zo Ee managed to put them on perfectly. Again, she repeated this feat until she's satisfied with her own progress before trying to walk with them around the house. Mummy was passively observing her throughout the day without offering any help, also neither did the engrossed Zo Ee ask for any help from Mummy. A big applause should be given to my little Zo Ee as it takes a lot of effort from a 20 month old to learn a new skill all by herself and this example has proven how persistent and independent my little Zo Ee is.
When we came across a book on rocks, little Zo Ee remembered that Mummy did show her some crystals months ago and she insisted Mummy to show them to her again, "Mummy, get crystal! Mummy, get crystal!" while pointing towards the correct drawer where Mummy keeps them. When Mummy passed the bag of crystal to her, little Zo Ee arranged one by one accordingly. Little Zo Ee is so particular in arranging and placing them according to their names. When Mummy saw this, Mummy tested her, and surprisingly little Zo Ee did know the name to each crystal.
Isn't she such a perfectionist? Looking at the way she placed them precisely onto the corresponding name cards and in the same manner. She indeed took effort in arranging them as below.
..................................................................................... Then18 month old - Sorting books
After reading a book on How to make a mask, Mummy decided to make one with little Zo Ee; to let little Zo Ee experienced the process herself since she was extremely interested in that particular library book. This 20 minutes mini project allowed little Zo Ee to colour with the coloured markers, play with the paper plate, paste with the glue and sticky tap and play with a plastic scissors. Mummy helped little Zo Ee to cut out the eyes, and some coloured paper for her to stick onto her mask before finally adding in the elastic band.
When Mummy and Zo Ee are alone at home, little Zo Ee behaves very well and not a single screaming,crying or whining. Little Zo Ee will ask Mummy politely for things or request. Little Zo Ee is always playing or reading independently. Mummy has no problem with her at all and she will always obey Mummy. Thus, the house is always peaceful and quiet.
But little Zo Ee is behaving very differently lately especially when Daddy's around. Little Zo Ee will be screaming to get things done her way or just to get our attention. Little Zo Ee seems like another person; very impatient, throwing tantrum occasionally, and most of the time, won't even listen to Mummy and never listen to Daddy at all. Little Zo Ee will struggle with Daddy to have her way. And this is the latest scene at home during past weekends; a complete messy home with toys everywhere and a screaming toddler. Mummy dreads these weekends and Monday as little Zo Ee will still carry this screaming behaviour to the following Monday. Luckily, Mummy is still able to reverse this bad behaviour and having a few peaceful weekdays before the whole cycle repeats again on the weekend, when Daddy doesn't have to work.
Why is little Zo Ee behaving badly lately only when Daddy is around? So this must have to do with Daddy, who usually will not response or pay attention to her unless she screams, thus the confuse little Zo Ee thought screaming is the way to get things done her way. That's why is not fair to punish the child who is behaving like this because of poor parenting. It's the parent to be blamed for this bad behaviour and not the little child. And sadly to say, this is only one simple example comparing to the many poor parenting scene out there where parents always blaming the children for misbehaving and punished them. But if one were to think it over, it is poor parenting (inconsistency or misleading practice )that encouraged the children to behave badly in certain way.
Little Zo Ee has been saying good night frequently for months now. She will always utter this voluntarily to Mummy when she is about to fall asleep. And true enough, she will be soundly asleep within a minute or two after saying her "good night". Good morning Lately, little Zo Ee has the habit in greeting Mummy, "Good morning. Good morning." the moment she is awakes. Although it is not a common practice in the house, but Mummy used to greet her "Good morning, Zo Ee." everyday when little Zo Ee was younger, maybe less than a year old. That was when little Zo Ee had not started talking yet, so Mummy finds many opportunity then to talk to her but as her being getting articulate and older, Mummy didn't bother to keep this practice anymore but seems like little Zo Ee is trying to revive this practice of ours. And each time, little Zo Ee greets Mummy, "good morning, Mummy" the first thing in the morning, it reminds me of our good old days. Another sign of her knowing the time of the day.
Thank you Mummy is so proud of little Zo Ee with her "Thank you." lately. She has been more consistent and spontaneous in thanking others for giving her a gift or thing. Little Zo Ee never forgets in thanking the taxi driver whenever we were alighting from it. She always spontaneously says "Thank you, uncle." She even thanks Daddy whenever daddy passes her the daily mail.Then saying thank you at 17 month old.
Excuse me Humorous Zo Ee seems to know or understand that it is impolite to fart out loudly. Recently, little Zo Ee will burst into laughter if either one of us fart at home before saying "excuse me." on our behalf. She will be chuckling loudly again and again while kept repeating her "excuse me" in between. Little Zo Ee even laughs at herself whenever she farts too...before giving us a cheeky look, bursts into laughter and followed by her "excuse me." in between. Then saying excuse me at 17 month old.
Hi /Hello My friendly little Zo Ee loves to say Hi or Hello to other people; aunty, uncle or little kids we randomly meet on the road , in the lifts, at the park, or even the taxi driver. Little Zo Ee likes to say "hello aunty" or "hi uncle" or "hi ge-ge" or "hi jie-jie" without being told and she always caught the adults by surprise with this . Sometimes, Mummy wonders should Mummy stops her from being too friendly to everyone as little kids should not be talking to strangers by right. But on the other hand, Mummy didn't want to stop her from being such a friendly person. It is hard to find a balance between this while trying not to confuse my confident little 19 month old girl.
Although little Zo Ee is known to have good memory, where little Zo Ee can remember new word or new idea in a single teaching or coaching. but Mummy has little thought on how much can little Zo Ee remember what happened in the recent past? There were many events that little Zo Ee did show this sign, eg. finding the precise page (13 month old), after our trip back from Perth(15 month old) and from our trip back from Ipoh (17 month old.) where little Zo Ee could recognize and name relatives in the photos or videos captured during these trips even after weeks apart. But these didn't alert Mummy much until our most recent visit to the library.
The moment we entered the library, little Zo Ee was seen running towards the information counter, saying aloud, "aunty cop! aunty cop!" When Mummy explained to little Zo Ee that Mummy didn't bring along her "My reading record" card to be copped /stamped , little Zo Ee still ignored Mummy, tip-toed, and stretched all the way to place a book onto the counter while asking the librarian on duty to cop. This incident really prompt Mummy that little Zo Ee did remember well recent past event.
Why? Because two weeks ago, Mummy had explained to little Zo Ee the process of getting her card copped by the librarian and little Zo Ee was allowed to carry out this process all by herself thereafter for the first time. And prior to this, little Zo Ee has no idea of this process nor had seen Mummy doing this. Amazingly two weeks later, little Zo Ee still remember this process well and had wanted to have her card cop.
Mummy was observing little Zo Ee during our latest visit to a book store. Zo Ee's reading by herself there, and of all the books, she likes the Ladybird's collection the best; where she spent the most time in front of this collection. She chose her own book, flipped through it, will spend more time browsing through it if she had interest in it (books with bigger words print and less words per page), else little Zo Ee will put the book back onto the shelf (although not at the same spot) before choosing another new one. She will also put back a finished book back on to the shelf. Seeing her putting books back onto the book shelf independently really makes Mummy so proud of her. So Mummy's coaching works and effort pays off because , little Zo Ee now carries with her a new learned skill since 17 month old .
When Mummy interrupted her reading.
Little Zo Ee ignored Mummy, before went back to her reading.
More reading and browsing for my little book worm!
What skills will my child develop through Puzzles and Logic Toys? 1. Intellectual Benefits Puzzles and logic toys help to stimulate the thinking side of the child’s brain, and force them to focus on problem solving skills such as process and logic. The child begins to understand that there are several ways to attack a problem, and will experiment with ways which work best for him/her. The more puzzles and logic toys a child explores, the stronger his/her personal sense of process will be. The problem solving skills learnt through puzzles can be transferred to every area of the child’s life.
2. Physical Benefits At a young age, puzzles help children to develop fine motor skills, which in everyday terms means the ability to make small (or fine) movements. The picking up, grasping or putting of pieces together helps to develop fine muscle control, which will be in good help in learning to write later.
3. Emotional and Social Benefits Puzzles offer a number of emotional and social benefits including:
A sense of achievement when the puzzle is complete
The development of determination and perseverance
Co-operation when completing a puzzle with others
The chance to solve problems independently and know when you have reached a right result
Basically, I don't go all out to look for specific toys for little Zo Ee's development. I'll buy whenever I see some good toys during shopping. Some were gifts while some were hand-me-down toys. Shown below are some of Zo Ee's logic toys collection. Now, at 18 month old, my little Zo Ee is capable of doing these:
Putting these puzzles together; filling in the smaller pieces in the center (eg. 2 semicircles to form the circle, 2 rectangles to form a square) before joining the bigger pieces together.
She could put 0-9 correctly in place since 14 month old. Now, she has moved on in trying to make a hop scotch with these foam mats after Mummy made her one last week.
Random building with these plastic bricks.
Joining these together.
Stacks 4 to 6 blocks tower. (stacked 2 blocks tower at 9 month old)
Stacking these too.
.......................................................................... Then
Although little Zo Ee has been saying "Excuse me." appropriately since 17 month old, but Mummy has not been able to capture this moment until today. What a lucky day?
Although little Zo Ee has been putting things back as early as 15-month-old, but this happened only occasionally then. What Mummy noticed lately is that little Zo Ee is more consistent and has the habit to put things back to their initial places spontaneously once she lost interest in them. These are a few examples:
Zo Ee put on her own hat when we leave our home, when reached our destination, she will remove and put it back onto the stroller's basket.
She will put back the drum sticks inside her drum set and not just into her toy basket after playing with them. This happen to other toys that she had removed from this toy basket too where she will always put them back into the basket spontaneously.
She loves browsing her bedtime music CDs and she will always put them back into the drawer before leaving the room.
She plays with the diaper, and things inside her diaper basket occasionally, and she will put them back inside it when she is done.
Sometimes, she even requested Mummy to put things back when she has no more interest in them. But one place that she doesn't tidy up, even being requested is her play area.Hmm.. wonder why?
When little Zo Ee was reluctant to share the sofa seat with us ,pushed us away, and wanted to occupy it all to herself, Mummy and Daddy think that it's time to teach her how to share. At first, she refused to comply, but persevere Mummy and Daddy gave lots of praising and positive motivation to her to share. Slowly, little Zo Ee seems to enjoy sharing her seat with us, always telling us, "Sharing Mummy" (sharing with Mummy) or "sharing Daddy"(sharing with Daddy).
Today, at the playground, she was carrying herself so well. When a 3 year old boy refused to share and let her play the slide, and the boy intentionally blocked her way up the slide by sitting at the the 3rd steps of the slide's ladder. Initially, little Zo Ee looked confused being blocked by the boy and when the boy still refused to give way, little Zo Ee tried to make friend with him instead, "hi, koh-koh" (big brother) while offering him her friendly smile. When the boy still refused to move away, little Zo Ee chose to sit at the lowest step of the slide's ladder, and was saying, "Share with koh-koh, share, sharing". So my little 18-month old has resolved to share with the bossy 3 year old who had reluctant to let her play the slide.
and not getting tired. She may sit down to read a book after that.
In fact, she has started singing along on her second day, so I foresee she’ll know her multiplication very soon.
