When we did it in schools, we had photocopier to enlarge the pictures of animals. Usually, the children would colour the A3 version, cut it out and stuff it with newspaper. For Sophie, I had to draw the outline of a giant bear for her. Since she does not like to colour, I had to stuff the bear first before handing it over to her for painting.
It was great to see her work on the bear. She likes bears and the idea of making a “teddy bear” excited her. When we were done, she walked around with the “teddy bear” like how characters in storybooks carry their teddy bears around (by the hand).
Although it might not seem like a big deal to many, it is a great leap for Sophie. She finally have the motivation to learn a song and sing it completely in tune with the correct lyrics. Most of the time, she is happy with the incomplete versions or she will just get me to sing. Now she will even say "Thank you, thank you!" when we clap.
Of course, Papa still like to tease her. And interestingly enough, Sophie played along. She is so cheeky and playful! She might not be able to do many things that other toddlers are doing, she definitely manages to steal all of our hearts and brighten up our day with her candid antics.
Sometimes I forget that Sophie has gone a long way since we first started doing art and craft work. She used to be clueless about the work so she just applied paint on any surface I put in front of her. Now, she knows what I ask of her and she can communicate with me better.
Of course, Sophie is still very playful and she tends to mess around with the paint. However, she definitely knows what she wants to do (if she has the motor skills). Sometimes, I find her talk very amusing.
Nothing beats watching her work with an intense look on her face. Sophie loves stickers so she had little issue with pasting "balls" and "bears" on the letter.
I was hoping to do more while we could so we did "B" concurrently with "b". Ah Gong and Ah Mah was around when Sophie was working. They were a lot less tolerant when mess is concerned and they prefer to direct more. Thus, I find it a little hard to manage everyone in this session.
Initially, I had wanted Sophie to make bubble wrap prints but they did not turn out well. So I let her paste the bubble wraps on the letter instead. Sophie was obviously unimpressed by the glitter bits I had added in the paint since she kept shaking it off her hands.
It was funny that she would whine so much just because she knocked her hand against the table. She was putting on a show for Ah Mah, I bet.
I stole the idea from Play School (Australian Network) although they made dogs instead of bears. I thought it was quite fun to stack them up so I drew paper “bears”, glued the eyes on and added the snouts. Although they was not difficult to make, it took me a while to complete everything.
Sophie scribbled on the “bears” using crayons. She used to hate colouring but now she seems a lot more accommodating.
Nowadays, Sophie is able to appreciate and enjoy the fruit of our labour better. We played with our “bears” and she loves stacking them up
I am glad that Sophie is willing to put away her crayons (if she has done enough with them). Occasionally, I had to use creative ways to motivate her but in general, she can do it when she is told.
I think it is a virus for us and our future generation. Somehow, kids just cannot get enough of computer games and the Internet. Sophie is still learning to manipulate the mouse and understand how to operate my laptop. But I guess it would not be too long before she becomes proficent.
We had some time in the morning today, so we took Sophie to Bottletree Park at Yishun. We thought it would be nice to take a leisurely nature walk.
Unfortunately, we were all sunlight and heat intolerant. It was far too hot for us and Sophie was not very keen to explore either. In fact, I think she was developing a cold so she seemed lethargic and grouchy.
I used clothes peg and self-adhesive plastic sheet to make Sophie a butterfly. It turned out much better than I had expected. It was really funny when she tried to find the right word to describe the "poor butterfly" when she accidentally sat on it.
P/S: Extra Information
A friend asked how the butterfly wings were made, but I am too lazy to make another. So, I will just include some instructions.
Sophie always watches Clifford at 4.30 pm before her dinner. Although she does not seem particularly fond of the cartoon, she loves to pretend to be dogs!
Papa was so naughty to tease Sophie like that! And she was so unbelievably obedient!
Before I know Alfee's gender, I created two blogs - Sonya's World and Alfee's World. Now, I can finally start building Baby Alfee's blog. It is definitely a challenge to maintain an extra blog, but I want Alfee to know that he is just as important and loved as Sophie. It is a promise I have made to him. His "babyhood" will be documented, as like Sophie's. Of course, there will be overlaps, so we will have to see how we manage those entries.
I had wanted to make "tau suan", the most similiar food I can get to pease porridge, but it was too troublesome. So, we just make do with pancakes.
Papa took the video clip while I was trying to work on the letter P with jumping clay. The clay has dried up considerably because I left it near the window so I think I might have to speed up the making of all the letters.
Papa bought Sophie a donkey float so that she could build some water confidence. It was more challenging than we had thought as Sophie was very reluctant to use it properly. She would drag it along and refuse to put it around herself.
It took lots of coaxing and coercing before Sophie was willing to try putting the float around herself. However, I must admit she was very brave and she soon picked up certain basic skills in the water. She was even trying to show off her kicking!
By the end of the hour, we were able to get her into the adult pool and she was floating unassisted with her float. She was pretty excited to watch her Papa swim across the pool so she grew braver and let us take her further from the edge.
Definitely an enjoyable family time! Hope that we can make it a routine for her.
I realised I am no longer an interesting teacher. I used to be very animated and creative in school but now, I seem to have lost half of my enthusiasm and energy. I find myself struggling not to sound bored. Maybe I am just losing my touch or perhaps I was never good in the first place. Anyhow, we kept the second half of her pipecleaner counters for today since Sophie was not able to concentrate for too long a period.
Honestly, one of my greatest worry (besides toilet training) for Sophie, is self-feeding. I have very low tolerance for food mess so I have not been able to train her to feed herself. She is also not very motivated to eat anything except biscuits and fruit. Today, she was in the mood for feeding herself so I indulged her a little.
Sophie learnt how to drink from a glass from Cherrytots. We were surprised that she picked it up so quickly and so well. Nowadays, she is eyeing on a bigger cup because she finds the glass a little inefficient. Notce how I frantically wiped her whenever there was spill... I could not help it!
I never question about Sophie's ability to feed herself. I am very sure she has the necessary motor skills already. It is her motivation that I worry. She refused to hold the spoon when I let her try eating porridge on her own.
I had wanted to get some raw popcorn to pop for Sophie, but as usual, local NTUC would not sell such food. Instead, I had to buy readymade sweet popcorn (house brand) and I coud not really give much to Sophie. They are simply too sweet. Even my sweet tooth ached after eating some...
Sophie enjoys painting (regardless where or what she paints). I was glad that we managed to establish some sort of SOP for painting. When we forgot the apron, she was willing to stop a moment to put it on before continuing. Sometimes, I love to see her pause to think before asking my question.
In any case, today we made a pink pig puppet with paper plates. Sophie is slowly developing a liking for pink (girls will be girls) so she was very excited. In fact, she finished painting the paper plates very quickly so that she could paint on herself! Normally, I would frown upon that and try very hard to steer her attention away from creating a mess. However, I let her have her way because she actually said it was “fun” and she liked it.
I could have just made a simple puppet but I got a little too adventurous and decided to do a bit of collage on the pig. It was not very appealing but fortunately, Sophie did not seem to mind much.
What is the point of making a puppet unless you can play with it? Sophie loves playing with her pig puppet. Usually, I had to interpret her behaviour or make guesses when her feelings or preferences are concerned. But she actually said she liked it when I asked her so I was very thrilled.
Ok, so the end product looks a little scary (even to me). However, Sophie wass not put off in any way so I am happy too.
At Cherrytots today, our mentor told me that Sophie's teachers feel that she is "very ready" for Nursery class. The only issue is her toilet training, something that none of us are willing to rush her. Then it came several compliments from other caregivers in class. Partly because Sophie was very "generous" with her "thank you" and "you're welcome" and partly because she gave the balls in her hands to other children, the moment I said, "Sophie, share". Also, Sophie was telling other children the right way to do things. I was beaming with pride when I heard such praises from others. No matter what we think of Sophie, nothing beats external validation.
In the afternoon, we tried to roast pumpkin seeds. I read the recipe online and I thought it seems easy enough so we did it. I put some salt and butter in the pan before roast the pumpkin seeds. Unfortunately, I got the equation wrong and it turned out a little too salty. Sophie was definitely not a fan, she ate a few and refused to help me finish it. Feeling tired and discouraged, I took her to the playground and exhausted the rest of the day.
I find it much easier (for me) to do art and craft sort of activity in the morning. Both of us are still fresh and energetic so I get frustrated less likely and Sophie can focus better.
I forgot to buy peas and I could find uncooked popcorn so we could not use either for art today. Instead, I let Sophie mix a batch of purple paint and do printing with a “P” sponge. Sophie was pretty observant, she noticed that the sponge made a "bubbled P" as she pressed down onto the paint. I think she was more interested in that than the work itself.
Of course, Sophie could not resist making handprints. I guess she just wanted to have fun so I tend to let her. I am not very particular about the "correct" use of art materials or the technical aspect of art. I want her to enjoy herself.
Next, I got Sophie to stamp some "P"s and "p"s on the letter. It was challenging because she much prefer to stamp on a blank piece of paper and include other prints.
So, I gave in and let her have her way. I think I need to let Sophie to more open-ended art.
Letter P - Purple Paint Prints
Straight after we cleaned up, Sophie took out her puzzles and began to fix them. She did her 3D animal puzzles, knob puzzles on shapes and sport equipment, jigsaw puzzles on colours and almost tried others as well. Unfortunately, I was hit by a wave of sleepiness by then so I had to call for a break and send her to watch "Play School" on Australian Network.
For lunch, Sophie had some chicken porridge and pears for dessert. I always cut her fruit into small pieces to prevent choking and Sophie obviously does not appreciate my effort. I placed a larger slice of pear in her bowl for myself but when I turned away to take a picture of her porridge, she "stole" it and started munching happily.
After lunch, I braved the heat and took Sophie to the library at AMK. We borrowed some books on pandas, praying mantis, penguins, parrots and pumpkins, among others. I had to do a quick grab and go because Sophie was difficult to manage in a library. It did not help when there was an overzealous school girl who kept following us and "shh-ing" us every time Sophie opened her mouth.
By dinner, I was exhausted and so was Sophie. She had a simple chicken pasta for dinner with her favourite watermelon for dessert. For the first time, she finished her food but I think that was because Rose cooked very little for her.
We started the week of “P” by making the letter with pom poms. I let Sophie doodle on the letter before attaching pom poms onto it with glitter glue. I could see that Sophie was trying to keep her doodling within the letter. She seemed to have got better control now than before.
Sophie was happily putting the caps back on without realising that I was observing her colour matching skills. Despite all, she has always managed to match the colours correctly. What a relief for me! At least she is not colour blind, she just needs to learn colours in other ways.
Sophie has her own ideas and it has become quite hard to get her to do things my way. I am not complaining because it shows that she is trying to express herself and her creativity.
Letter Of The Week - "P" (Pom Poms)
For lunch, I made Sophie a mini pizza and some fruit salad for dessert. I added peach slices and pineapple cubes in her salad. Sophie found the taste a little strange so it took her a while to feel comfortable eating the salad. Cooking has never been my forte so the end product is hardly visually appealing or tasty. At least Sophie got to experience new tastes... I guess.
In the late afternoon before dinner time, I took Sophie to the swimming pool for a splash. I think we should make full use of the pool in our condo since Sophie is now older and more interested in splashing about. We are currently looking for a coach to give her former swimming lessons.
At Cherrytots today, Sophie found a snail in the garden and she was simply ecstatic. She recognised it immediately because she had just seen two snails in our condo facilities over the weekends. She kept going back to the same spot since then to look for the two elusive creatures but they were long gone. So imagine her excitement when she saw a snail again at school.
I am very happy that her teacher decided to expand their experience by bringing the snail back to the classroom. She put it in a container and took out a book on slugs and snails to show the children. Almost immediately, Sophie learnt the anatomy of the snail and the food it eats. I realised then that Sophie really loves learning about animals and all sorts of creatures. She remembers their names and facts about them much faster and easier than anything else. I feel like buying an animal encyclopaedia for her now.
Perhaps Papa was right to say that I am limiting her potential to learn because I keep her at home too much. I ought to take her out more so that she can experience and learn about the world around us. Having said that, I am not sure how we can do that without stressing ourselves out. Sophie is a very sensitive child so a slight change in her routine would potentially cause her to go haywire. We need to plan carefully so that she will not be over stimulated as well.
With so many pending skills to train her, I think we need to pace ourselves a little. We will start with short trips over the weekends. Perhaps the park, the zoo or the science centre for a start. When she is more stable and manageable, we will try other things.
Papa bought a new car in anticipation that we would need the space for little XD in the future. Although it seems a little too early to invest in a 7-seater, we both actually love the car. I just hope I can bring myself to drive it.
Anyhow, we wanted to check out Bottle Tree Park in Yishun today but we ended up at Bottle Tree Village in Sembawang instead. I was quite disappointed that all we could find was a restaurant with an old playground. We let Sophie play for a while before we left for dinner. We shall go to the one at Yishun next weekend.
Sophie is very fortunate to have Ah Gong and Ah Mah, who are willing to spend quality time with her. Although they have never quite use Playdoh before, they are learning as they play with Sophie. Sometimes I think they enjoy doing this more than Sophie!
In the morning, Papa tries to spend some time with Sophie because he does not get to see her at night and I can have a bit more sleep that way. Of course, Sophie is also his No. 1 guitar fan although they occasionally fights over the pick...
Papa loves to play silly games with Sophie too. I just hope she would not do the same thing to me!
Sophie has done so many pieces of scribbles, painting and what not that I have problem storing all of them. Lately, I have decided to recycle them according to how they have turned out. For instance, we used some of her works as background for today's craft. We have bought some self-adhesive foam shapes (animals and sports equipment) in the weekends, so we tried to create something with them. They are quite useful and interesting to work with although they are not cheap.
Animal Farm
Noah's Ark
Sports
Lately, I have been collecting simple art materials for Sophie's art and craft box. I intend to let her create crafts and art pieces with the art materials in the box with minimal help or guidance. I shall post about it once she starts working on it.
Yesterday was the 16th day of our first lunar month of the year. It marked the end of our Chinese New Year celebrations. Of course, I forgot all about the big and round full moon on the 15th, not that she would ever get to see the moon since she sleeps by 7pm. Anyway, I read her I Took The Moon For A Walk by Carolyn Curtis and there was a page about the different moon phases. So we tried to make four commonly known ones, “New Moon”, “Crescent Moon”, “Half Moon” and “Full Moon”. I decided to keep it simple for her.
I mixed a batch of shaving cream and white glue to create a puffy effect on her moons. Sophie enjoyed putting it onto the moon surfaces with a brush. She tried to avoid touching the sticky concoction. After that, we left them to dry overnight.
Today, we added black to create the moon phase. It proved to be quite challenging to get Sophie to keep the paint within a certain area. She much preferred to just paint everything in sight.
We hung the moons to dry at the window. I think we might just leave them there for a while...
In order to prevent Sophie from touching the semi-dried moons, I read her I'm A Manatee by John Lithgow and played her the song. It is a little too difficult for her but she liked the pictures of the wrinkly manatees. After Sophie's nap, we watched Papa, Please Get The Moon For Me by Eric Carle in The Very Hungry Caterpillar and Other Stories our Scholastic video library. And ended our Letter M week. Here is our book on the letter "M".
Sophie’s teacher at Cherrytots recited this fingerplay song last week and she seemed to like it very much. I did not manage to learn it well because I only heard it twice. Anyway, Sophie did not seem to mind at all especially with the laminated pictures of monkeys and Mr Crocodile to fiddle around with. I placed magnetic strips behind them and used her blackboard as a storyboard.
It was Sophie’s turn to have her way with the props after we had recited the rhyme. I think she might have enjoyed this part more… It is interesting that she has somehow developed interest in songs, rhymes and fingerplays over the past few months.
