Fun at Atlantis City!

Today, I brought En to Atlantis City, at Delta Sports Complex. Ruth introduced the place to me and it was really quite fun! They had all these equipment for climbing, a ball pool, little toy cars, swings and nursery rhyme music to go along with all the explorative mood of little toddlers. And it costs only $20 for 6 hours worth of fun. Today was a trial session so I paid $5. Its very economical for a HDB dweller like myself. :)

I met a lot of expat mums there, some Japanese ladies and a few local mums like myself. We would chat, introduce ourselves and our kids' age, say "ooh" and "ahh" and they, "see u later" as we chase after our respective kids attempting some form of mischief.

I love the place! Sure wish there were such playgrounds when I was a kid. Am definitely bringing Isaac back there for more tumble and fun!

Morning at the Park

We went to the Botanic Gardens this morning. The weather was nice and cool after a shower. En was very engrossed with leaves. Yes, the plain, old, muddy leaves. They were yellow, greeen, brownish and rotting. It really takes a toddler exploring his world to remind me how we adults, have stopped taking time to smell the flowers and touch the leaves. Pictures above show En cleaning the leaf in a puddle of water and posing for his mummy. Click!

A letter from the devil's wife to a minster's wife

My husband subscribes to The Briefing, which is a monthly magazine from Australia Mattias Media http://matthiasmedia.com.au/

Their intended goal is to serve Jesus and the growth of his gospel by producing bible-based resources (read their mission statement for the full details).

I wish to commend one of the articles published this month to Christian wives. The article is written in the style of the renowned C.S. Lewis' book, "The Screwtape Letters", as advice from a senior demoness wife to a minster's wife on "10 ways to Discourage your Husband".
http://matthiasmedia.com.au/briefing/library/5398/

It is a very engaging read and particularly so I suspect due to the style in which it is framed. It should not only be for wives of ministers but also Christian wives of Christian husbands. For our husbands are like us, also ministers of the gospel.

Some of the demoness' tips include keeping a messy home, gossiping with your husband (or rather inducing gossipy talk with your husband), complaining instead of appreciating your husband.

I did pick up quite a few pointers from the article and I confess that I am certainly practising some of the demoness' advice which I need to repent of. May God help us Christan wives to respect our husbands as unto the Lord and be his reliable helper.

Montessori Ideology and Methodology

I have never really thought much of the Montessori school system. However, doing part-time work gives me more time to read up on education for toddlers and pre-schoolers. I recently laid my hands on "Montessori from the Start", by Paul Polk Lilliard and Lynn Lilliard Jessen.


http://www.amazon.co.uk/Montessori-Start-Paula-Polk-Lillard/dp/0805211128/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1226373977&sr=1-1

The book contains the basic ideas behind Maria Montessori's philosophy and research into how children develop once they enter this world. Her view is that the child is to be developed in such a way so that he can contribute to the world.

What I find interesting, and perhaps due to the fact that En is also 15 months of age, is her observation that toddlers at 15 mths of age should be given practical life training to prepare them for self-independence (which is the ultimate goal of educating a child).

In a Montessori classroom setting, the child will be taught how to put on their own clothes, prepare the table for a meal, learn how to do housework, cut apples and so on and so forth. The reason why she thinks the child is ready is because their hands and legs are fully functional now and perform as they were meant to. The child is also eager to imitate the adult in the things they do. As I look at En, I find it so true. Encouraged by her observation and her successful results in training children in practical life, I have been trying to do the same for En recently.

For meal times, En is to feed himself. It helps that the food he eats consists of porrdige, soggy rice, sticky pasta or cous cous. This way, the food tends to stick to the spoon and does not fall off easily. When you have a maid, its easy to make the maid feed him so that the feeding session is over and done with without too much time wastage. However, I now realise that I should aim to make him more independent and since he has demonstrated that he is capable of eating by himself, I should create the environment to let him do so. I intend to get En a fork next, so that he can learn to eat with both spoon and fork :) Another thing is, before meals, I ask him to go and get his bib from his cupboard. So far, he comprehends and has been co-operating in this respect. Its true. Young children this age need routine. If we keep doing it as a matter of daily life, he will soon learn to make it part of his daily routine.

Also, am trying more "practical life" training for En in areas of wearing his shoes, choosing his clothes before he goes out, preparing for bathtime etc.

Maria's ideology is noble and admirable. To develop the child to be a useful agent of change in the world. However, as a Christian, I know that there is more to life than just contributing to social good in the world. Our goal in life should be to love God and love the neighbour as we love ourselves. Our aim and desire should be to live such godly lives and preach the gospel so that the lost may be brought into the marvellous truth and light of Jesus, so that we will see the nations worship the lamb who was slain at the end of all times. Montessori methods will help make the child more independent, which fits well into my current thoughts on toddler-rearing :)

How frail the human body

My son, En, came down with flu a few days ago. It all started when I bought a very healthy En to his padaetrician for a chicken pox and flu jab. The padae told me that it was ok for the boy to have two jabs. But it turned out not, cos after the jabs, he vommitted out his orange juice (maybe that was a mistake) and his breakfast. Thereafter, he had high fever (ranging from 38 degrees plus to 39.1 degrees) that lasted for three days and two nights.

When you become a parent and your child has fever, its a very worrying thing. You worry that the fever will affect his brains if it burns too high. My MIL and I took turns sponging poor feverish En for two whole nights. En's fever finally subsisded on the third day, thank God! MIL and I came down with fever and runny nose. We now have a household full of viruses floating around!

As always, when I fall ill, I feel very tired, weak and incapacitated. Then I realise how frail the human body is. How much I take for granted my good health and strength that God has given me on a daily basis.

I will endeavour to build up a stronger body so that my body has higher immunity against diseases. Its really no point falling ill as a mother cos that means you cannot take care of your son when you do. I hope to be better tomorrow.

Milestone 1: Eating by himself

I have recently been training and encouraging En to use his spoon to feed himself. Mostly, we would have to hold another spoon and feed him the food, whilst he plays with his own food (in a separate bowl/plate).

This morning, during breakfast time, En had cereal with milk, together with banana mashed up into the cereal. I handed him the spoon and confidently told him to eat his own breakfast. I forbidded my maid from feeding him. A hungry child would certainly want to eat his food! He managed to feed himself breakfast quite neatly! I was so proud of him! There was only a dollop of cereal mash on the flood (probably the neatest floor we had after his meal).

Well done, son!

Now, to try and get him to feed himself his own lunch and dinner. Those are a little trickier. The bite-sized pieces of food tend to be picked up by hand (since En thinks its faster to pick them up by hand rather than scoop them and put them into his mouth). Soon, soon I hope. :) Its just so nice to see your little toddler feeding himself, all like a grown-up.