As Easy As ABCs and 123s

I wanted to take things easy today so I just let Sophie do some printing with the stamps I bought from ELC. Knowing that she would be too curious about the tools to actually use them, I gave her some time to "get aquainted" with them. She was quite smart to spin them like tops.

Okay, the task was easy... just press the stamps onto the paper. She got it almost immediately but also lost it equally quickly. She became restless by the time she finished stamping the first picture. So I had to quickly clear the materials away before she got cranky. Fortunately, the end product was still not too bad...

BUT they were not done yet! I had wanted to use them like wrapping paper on empty cardboard boxes and get Sophie to paste stickers on them. These could be then used like building blocks of assorted sizes. Now we could only make three boxes.

So, TA-DA! Building blocks with ABCs and 123s on them!

Quack Quack Quack...

Five Little Ducks by Public Domain

We began with a song we learnt from MIM-Jumpstart class, "Five Little Ducks" (found the book in the library also). I liked the song the moment I heard it... It is catchy and easy to sing; not to mention that it makes you wonder about the fate of those little ducks and then rejoice over their reunion with the mother duck. And of course, it teaches about numbers 1 - 5 and basic prepositions.

Lyrics:

Five little ducks went out one day, over the hill and far away.
The mother duck said, “Quack! Quack! Quack!”, but only four little ducks came back.

Four little ducks went out one day, across the lake and far away.
The mother duck said, “Quack! Quack! Quack!”, but only three little ducks came back.

Three little ducks went out one day, under the water and far away.
The mother duck said, “Quack! Quack! Quack!”, but only two little ducks came back.

Two little ducks went out one day, into town and far away.
The mother duck said, “Quack! Quack! Quack!”, but only one little duck came back.

One little duck went out one day, into the woods and far away.
The mother duck said, “Quack! Quack! Quack!”, but no little ducks came back.

Sad mother duck went out one day, over the hill and far away.
The mother duck said, “Quack! Quack! Quack!”, and all the little ducks came back.

After Sophie had tolerated my singing, I handed her the yellow marker and the sheet of paper with duck outlines already done by me earlier. I was surprised she started scribbling without any hesitation, but I got worried when she started jabbing the "ducks".

So I thought maybe it was time to hand her the orange marker... And to my amazement, Sophie started colouring her hand and then pressing it onto the paper to make prints. Of course, nothing much was printed because the marker dried up quickly on her hand. But, I was so glad she remembered the hand printing activity we did!

I bought her some crayons from ELC at Paragon yesterday, so I let Sophie try colouring with it. It took a bit of coaching but it seemed easy enough for her to use. However, she was obviously not impressed by the "light" and waxy markings as compared to the brighter ink markings. She soon figured out how to play with the crayon like a top...

End Product - Five Little Ducks

Okay... so she likes vibrant colours and her attention span is only around 5 - 10 minutes. I will have to design each activity based on that in the future. Meanwhile, I cut up the "ducks", added the wings and eyes before pasting each pair onto an ice-cream stick. Now, they sit on Sophie's new window grille in her room.

New And Improved Tambourine

I asked Ah Gong for some string (kite string) so he gave me the whole roll of it. As I was struggling to string the bells on, we had the following conversations (in teochew of course)...

Mama : ... your string should be strong enough hor...
Ah Gong : ...your cardboard breaks, the string also won't break...
Mama (dagger eye glare)
Ah Gong (grinning)

... then when I finally finished it...

Ah Gong : I give you three days... it will last...
Mama : Hah! You give it three days... I'm happy if it can last ONE day!

A Day At Paragon

Today (Qing Ming) Papa woke up very early to visit the tombs of his late father and grandparents. After that he picked us up to join Naenae and Uncle Simon for lunch at Paragon. We decided to go there mainly because I wanted to check out ELC and Toys R Us for art materials. Sophie was obviously bored as she already had her lunch so she spent most of her time playing with the waiters and waitresses. She would deliberately smile at them to get their attention, then dropped something so that they would come over and pick it up for her.

After that, Uncle Simon had to leave because his music student was going over for lesson. Naenae also had to go with him because she was not feeling too well. We then walked around and found a slide in the middle of nowhere between shops. Sophie started climbing up the slide in any way she could... I must remember to teach Sophie to be civic minded. One of the girls who was playing on the slide, was very queer and mean. She must have heard me telling Sophie to wait for her turn, so she deliberately sat on the slide and glared at Sophie. Well, Sophie threw her a dirty look too!

Bye-Bye Tips For Parents

I managed to borrow Bye-Bye Time (Toddler Tools Series) by Elizabeth Verdick from Woodlands Regional Library. I found the tips pretty easy and practical so I shall try them on Sophie since she is starting to exhibit strong separation anxiety.

Bye-Bye Tips For Parents

1. Stay positive
- casual and upbeat
- smile

2. Leave extra time for goodbyes
- no rush or frantic exit
- sneak out to avoid a scene.

3. Prep your child
- talk about spending the day away from you and home (at childcare centre)
- speak warmly of the caregiver (at childcare centre) there

4. Be ready for tears

5. Keep the goodbye in a firm and matter-of-fact way
- milestone for your child to learn handling separations

6. Create a ritual that instill confidence
- Bear hugs and Funny Fish kisses
- Pinocchio’s Nose Rubs and Forehead Touch
- Big Wave Bye-Bye or High Five or Special Handshake
- Say “See you later, alligator!” and get your child to say in response, “After a while, crocodile!” or say “Toodle-oo, kangaroo!”

7. Teach calming skills
- take deep breaths in and out
- find a quiet spot
- use a comfort object
- “goodbyes” are not forever, “hellos” are even sweeter after you have been apart

8. Leave a reminder
- offer family photo, a special memento or a kiss on the palm to hold tight and save

9. Keep the lines of communication open between parents and caregivers (at childcare centre)
- make known your style of handling separations with your child
- work together with the caregiver to check on how your child is coping

10. Sweeten the "hellos" with lots of praises and encouragements

Tambourine

At Bras Basah Complex the other day, we saw a very beautiful tambourine ($35) but we decided against buying it because it is a real instrument and Sophie cannot take good care of it. So... Mama went back and did some research... searched for some materials and bought some bells... experimented with a couple of designs (not so good ones)... then finally when Sophie was sound asleep last night, I came up with a self-made tambourine for Sophie!

Almost immediately, Sophie ripped out a bell. Hmm... She even attempted to eat the bells! I have to supervise her when she plays... sigh! Why do I put myself through this??? Now I have to replace the string with stronger kind.

And also I need to paint its body to make it look attractive... Well, I will do that some day... Meanwhile, Sophie seemed to have discovered new ways to play with her new tambourine ($4)! Well, at least now I know where she has run to...

SCB Family Day @ Sentosa

'Tis SCB Family Day and Papa thought we should support the event despite the scotching sun and aggressive crowd. It was really tough for Sophie because she started perspiring and itching even before we set foot on the beach. When I put her down on the sand, she became fully exposed to the sun and the sand grains hurt her feet as she walked. Feeling miserable and very disturbed by the noise, Sophie buried her face into my legs and whined. I could fully understand how she felt because I, myself, was dying in the heat. In less than 15 minutes, I signalled Papa that 'tis time to go...

As we walked away from it all, Sophie's mood became better so we decided to head for the Butterfly Park and Insect Kingdom. We missed it the last time we were there. It was a good judgment call. We quite enjoyed the experience actually. After that, we ended the day with dinner at Vivocity, Bakerzin. All in all, not a bad family day for us! That's all Papa allow Mama to say...

Hot Babe!

Sophie must be feeling very hot lately... especially when she was kicking her balls around. Yes, apparently she still felt hot with a "umbrella" above her head. She had to switch on the fan to beat the heat!

Colourful Sophie

Who are you? by Stella Blackstone

I am running out of books I can use as a tuning in activity... This particular book lets the child guess what each animal is by revealing only a part of it. Therefore, I decided to let Sophie do hand prints (part of her body) today. Surprisingly, she actually enjoyed the book when I read it to her. The colours used in the book are mainly bright and warm, so we tried to follow it for our prints. She was a little apprehensive when I applied orange paint on her hands at first.

But she seemed to like printing with her hands once she got over the sensation of dry paint on her hands. We finished it with bright red and blue at the bottom.

End Product I - Hand Prints

I had leftover paint on the plate so I took out the sponge roller I bought yesterday and let Sophie have a go at it. The roller intrigued her and she seemed quite excited about printing. In fact, she did attempt to use the roller correctly but she grew frustrated when the paint was a little too dry to glide across the paper. She soon lost interest in printing with the roller and started squeezing the sponge and rubbing the painting on the paper.

End Product II - Sponge Roller Prints

I wanted to see what Sophie would do with the roller if I did not guide her... After all, I read today that if the activity becomes too challenging for the child, we should adjust the level of difficulty so that we would not frustrate or demoralise the child. Well... with freedom and permission, she would use it for stamping (anger management). And when the paper could not satisfy her, my hand became the convenient target.

End Product III - Sponge Roller Prints by Stamping (done solely by Sophie)

I guess the right materials are very important. If the paint was smooth and easy to apply onto the paper, Sophie might have enjoyed printing with the roller a little more. I have to be more mindful...

Dirty Hands, Guilty Sophie! (Don't be fooled by those puppy eyes of hers... I did not scold her, I swear!)

Window Grille At Last...

So glad we finally got it done, especially since Sophie is now capable of climbing up stools to reach for things. The window grilles have been done up quite nicely even though I feel a little "caged up" somehow. Well, I guess it is inevitable...

End product

The guys came around 11.30 a.m so I hardly have enough time to feed Sophie her lunch. When they started work, I took her down to the hospital (air-conditioned canteen) and left Papa with them. They took around 2 hours and I spent that time trying to get Sophie to take her nap. It is no longer easy to have her asleep in my arms... 10.7 kg and 79.2 cm (last checked on Sat) now. By the time she napped and we got the house reasonably clean again, it was 3 plus and we wanted to go to Bras Basah Complex to source for art materials. Thus, Sophie did not get to do much except for a simple scribble and sticker activity before her lunch.

Let My Hair Down... Please Lah!

Sophie's hair is long again, but I don't really want to send her to the hairdresser so soon. I tried tying her hair but she kept tugging at the ponytails. In fact, she grew so frustrated at one point that she refused to lift her head and look at me. When she did, she threw me a naughty grin to humour me... Or was she trying to get me off her back?

Shapes Up

Undeterred by yesterday's failure, I went ahead with Sophie's activity on shapes before lunch (after her nap, of course!) today. I borrowed Shippyjon Jones because Sophie loves cats, the idea of printing with shapes came only later when I viewed the flower cookie cutter printing in No Time For Flashcards.

Skippyjon Jones Shape Up by Judy Schachner

So far so good, Sophie was in relatively good mood. I was able to get her to show some interest and try out the printing. But, she was also quite keen to smear the paint... the activity was still very guided. I deliberately used the colours that she has been introduced earlier.

End product I - Circle (yellow on blue)

Then I discovered that Sophie became enthusiastic when I started making noises as if I had to use a lot of strength to print. Oh yes, I should add some element of fun (I must have been frowning...)!

End product II - Square (blue on purple)

At this juncture, I was starting to wonder if I should stop at TWO? Sophie's atention was slipping away... Maybe mine as well.

End product III - Triangle (green on red)

Then Sophie surprised me byh uttering "star" after I said it. Wow, that was amazing... considering how stingy she has been with words... Keep it up, prove Dr Lillian wrong!

End product IV - Star (red on yellow)

By now, I could see Sophie getting bored. She fiddled with the paint a little... humored me a little with some printing and looked away many times... But, Mama only had ONE more shape to go!

End product V - Crescent (orange on green)

Okay, this video clip must be the third or fourth take because Sophie started "showing" me how she felt. She tried to grab the paper and throw it on the floor. She tried crushing the paper also. Relentless Mama still made sure she finished the task though...

End product VI - Rectangle (purple on orange)

To celebrate our success, I printed two rectangles on Sophie's face (more like revenge) and that made her trun and look at her reflection in the mirror! Hahaha...

My baby can be so funny at times... I love her silly laughter and antics... Well, sometimes anyway...

I guess my aim is to give Sophie a chance to focus and complete a hands-on task... in the most enjoyable manner possible. I am also trying to get used to accomodating her and accepting her as an individual with her own mind and desires. I feel quite positive about the direction we are heading... In fact, I am digging up all my art materials (some mouldy already!) and art books...

My Apple Tree

Okay, I admit... I was getting a little too confident of myself! I told myself, "Hey, you used to teach art to 40 plus reluctant pre-teens and design art curriculum... How can a little toddler be anywhere near as bad as that?" Well, Sophie was definitely a whole lot harder to manage... especially when I stupidly chose the wrong time of the day, wrong materials and wrong place! Today's boo-boo activity is "My Apple Tree" - a deceivingly simple "take, aim and paste" craft.

Harold and the Purple Crayon: The Five Senses by Jodi Huelin

I started off with Sophie's dinner (yes... bad timing), giving her slices of apple in hope to engage her five senses (touch and taste). And of course, apples were mentioned in the story I was going to read her. After dinner, I took her to her playroom and read her the story (instead of her bath, bad bad timing). That went okay, she was a little restless but still manageable... Then I took out the picture of the tree and the pieces of apples and leaves... A point of no return - bad place to do the activity. Sophie was so used to freeplaying in the room that she could not even understand what I wanted her to do. Instead of pasting the apples on the tree, she tried to pluck them out...

I panicked a little, not knowing how to carry on the activity without appearing desperate (I failed...). So, I showed her how to paste the apples and leaves on the tree. Of course, Sophie had other ideas (not interested at all!) and started crawling away with the thermometer (how did she get hold of that?) after kicking all the pieces of paper away.

That's it! Bad bad bad choice of materials... I should have used stickers instead of my DIY "apples" and leaves with double-sided tape at the back. It was hard to peel and difficult to stick on for Sophie. Laying the pieces of paper around was not intelligent at all... In the end, I had to peel all the "apples" and "leaves" first and hand them, one at a time, to Sophie and guide her where to paste them. All the while with her in my arms... What a disappointment! I wonder what she has learnt in the process?

I had to show her what to do...

End product - My Apple Tree (with some apples and leaves falling...)

I Am Touched...

Papa was so sweet to rush down to Funan after work just to buy Mama an early Anniversary gift, IPod Touch. 'Tis hard to think about ourselves after Sophie was born... That is why it is even more important for us now to strengthen our marriage and remind ourselves we love each other. Although gifts are only one way to show our love for each other... I must confess, I love the IPod Touch!

Nike Spirit - Just Do It!

I bought Sophie paint long time ago (our last blogger-mummies' Vivocity outing), but I dared not try painting with her. I was terrified at the thought of cleaning up after her... Imagine running after her paint stained fingers as she smeared paint all over the house! Well, luckily I found some websites and adopted the idea of letting her paint in her highchair, for first-timers anyway... So, just do it!

I read Sophie Mouse Paint by Ellen Stoll Walsh before I started the finger painting activity. It seemed like a wonderful way to introduce her to the primary colours and how secondary colours can be mixed.

Sophie looked very distressed when she got "messy" with red paint. It must be my fault because I always make sure she is clean during her mealtime... Look at how she frantically wiped the paint off her hand...

And when I intervened, Sophie quickly took the opportunity to satisfy her curiosity about paint with MY finger instead... Clever girl (well, not really in a good way... but clever nevertheless)!

By now, the paint has dried up on her hands so Sophie was trying to get to terms with the sensation of dry paint on her fingers. And then wet paint on her cakey, stiff fingers...

Sophie started pushing away the paper so it either meant she was bored or had enough with the activity. So, I put away the end product before it could be destroyed...

End Product (by Mama and Sophie)

After that, I took a chance and let Sophie paint on her highchair tray instead. Well, she seemed to be less reluctant to get her hands "dirty" this time (finally). Still, look at her frown!

In the end... Sophie looked messy but I never thought she would actually feel so uncomfortable with paint on her hands. In fact, she seemed very happy when I took her to the bathroom to wash her hands... Hmm... A little too much like Mama! Poor girl!

By the end of the activity, Sophie's hands and arms were all covered with paint...

... so was her mouth! Hey, how did that happen?!

YES, my camera is resurrected... miracles do happen!!! Hahahaha....

Cat Abuse

Sophie loves Naenae's cat, Ah Mi. But she has never actually touched her until today. Then, she became unstoppable as she relentlessly "sayang" her. Well, she tried her best to be gentle... not always successful though.

Past Her Bedtime...

There is an ongoing 20% sale on Crayola products in Creative Hands at Takashimaya so I thought I could get Sophie some art materials. Alas, I could not find anything I want... probably the same stuff other parents want for their kids. Unwilling to go home empty-handed, I went to Art Friend as well to buy some poms-poms, pipe cleaners and feathers. Unfortunately, there has been some sort of delay in shipment so again, there was nothing for me to buy. When i came out of the shops, feeling defeated and grouchy, I caught Papa "gambling" with Sophie with her munchies... Ayalah...

We decided against rushing home for Sophie's dinner, so we went to one of the Chinese Restuarants and fed her some chicken mee sua. She seemed ok with the food but she was cranky and restless as her bedtime has been delayed.

While waiting for the food, Sophie (the artificial plant whisperer) entertained herself and us with her antics.

I regretted not protecting her sleep today. She had her MMR jab in the early afternoon after her MIM class (which was cancelled but they did not inform us). After that, the guys came over to measure our windows for window grilles. So, she missed both of her naps. Despite the short naps she took on the road, they were not enough to recharge her. By the time we put her to bed, it was 8 pm (1.5 hrs later than usual). Bad Mama... Sophie's sleep was disturbed and she cried a lot in her sleep... Poor Sophie! Mama promise promise never to stress you out again! So sorry...

"Boo-Boo" Is Okay Today...

I have not been updating Sophie's progress in MIM-Jumpstart class in the weekends. That is because I have not been attending it at all... Sophie has been attending class faithfully with Papa only. So, I do not get to see how she ran amok in class, giving the teacher a hard time while entertaining everyone else. Phew! Imagine how stressful that would be for me!

In any case, the school made a "boo-boo" today. Everyone was there except the teacher. However, Papa was not all upset (surprise...surprise...). Apparently, a teacher from the pre-schoolers' class saw Sophie "running amok" and came over to speak to Papa. She told him that Sophie was very intelligient, securely attached and confident. She would roam away from Papa, turn round to check on him before wandering off further to explore. She also came over to join in the conversation (blabbering, of course!) when she saw Papa talking to the teacher. Then the teacher ushered her into her own class and let her hold her pencil and attendence book. She was again surprised to see her scribbling with it instinctively. She told Papa Sophie does not behave like a 15.5 mth old toddler. Now, that made Papa beam with pride and happiness.

No wonder he was not a bit upset with the "boo-boo" that day!