School Uniform

I went back to Sophie's school today to confirm her uniform size and make payment. I was surprised to hear that each set of uniform cost $40 (without GST) if you buy less than 3 sets. It would cost $30 (without GST) if you buy 4 sets and above. We were advised to get at least 4 sets so that she can have a spare set in her bag. After I picked up my jaws, we bought 5 sets (the blouse of the fifth set a size bigger). Next, we were advised to get her Kavat shoes (mainly white and covered) from Heel & Toe at Tanglin Mall. I do not know how much it would cost, but I am sure it would not be cheap.

School Uniform

I went back to Sophie's school today to confirm her uniform size and make payment. I was surprised to hear that each set of uniform cost $40 (without GST) if you buy less than 3 sets. It would cost $30 (without GST) if you buy 4 sets and above. We were advised to get at least 4 sets so that she can have a spare set in her bag. After I picked up my jaws, we bought 5 sets (the blouse of the fifth set a size bigger). Next, we were advised to get her Kavat shoes (mainly white and covered) from Heel & Toe at Tanglin Mall. I do not know how much it would cost, but I am sure it would not be cheap.

School Uniform

We bought Sophie her school uniform today. Well, actually I just took a set home to let her try it on for size. She is wearing "S" for her blouse and "M" for the pants. According to the school, the uniform was designed by a fellow parent. I did not really pay much attention to it until my friends commented that it looks unique and stylish. My little girl is going to school!

School Uniform

We bought Sophie her school uniform today. Well, actually I just took a set home to let her try it on for size. She is wearing "S" for her blouse and "M" for the pants. According to the school, the uniform was designed by a fellow parent. I did not really pay much attention to it until my friends commented that it looks unique and stylish. My little girl is going to school!

"G" Based Activity – G (Grey, Glittery Gold) & g (green grass)

Grey is not exactly an attractive colour but Sophie actually likes it. She always picks grey to draw and paint.



Suddenly, she asked for paper and started painting on it with the leftover paint. Although I was reluctant, I still let her do her painting. After all, she seldom does open-ended painting these days.



I felt that this seemed a little lame because I had very few pieces of golden paper for her to work with. I think I might have to think of something else to add on later on.

Sophie seemed to have progressed a lot since the first time we did art together. Now she could control her painting better and she understood how to keep her paint without the letter. However, she does not always want to do just that.

Sometimes, I thnk Sophie would do very well if she just listens and try harder at staying focus. She is definitely a fast learner but she cannot be taught deliberately (at least not when she feels she is being taught). She has to perceive it as "play" and given space to explore freely.



Sophie said she was a baker because squeezing glitter glue out from its tube was like how a baker decorates a cake.



Alright, so I cheated. I cut up green and yellow paper and pretended it was grass. I could not possibly use real grass without getting myself fined, right? Anyway, this was equally messy and Sophie was not too thrilled to get her fingers all sticky.

I thnk it looked like grass from far so I am happy enough. Anyway, Sophie could understand that we were trying to create "grass".

Stickers Mania

We have had no intention to do any sticker art today, but Sophie saw the stickers when I opened the cupboard. Thus, we ended up doing 4 pieces of sticker art before I could distract her into doing something else.



Sometimes I am very impressed by Sophie’s vocabulary and general knowledge. I do not care how much more articulate and intelligent other children are, I know that she is definitely better than Papa or me when we were her age. Imagine a 2.5-year-old saying “quiet as a clam”!



After the seascape sticker art, I thought it would be interesting to see how good she was with a different scenery. Well, I was not disappointed. She was happily creating the scene with all the transportation stickers and talking about it.



It was amazing how Sophie enjoyed doing sticker art. She even treated the scenery like a storyboard. She would talk about the sheep fondly and tried to protect them from the wolf by fencing them up.



This was the last card I have for sticker art. Sophie likes monkeys a lot. It tickled me to see how serious she looked as she did her work.

Sentosa - Beach

When Sophie said, “I want to go to the beach!” a couple of days ago, we took a deep breath and made preparations to visit Sentosa (Pelawan Beach) this morning. We were hoping there would not be too many people and that the weather would be good.



I was clearly uncomfortable in the waters, but Sophie seemed to like washing her feet in the dirty sea water. It was moments like these that I thought about Gold Coast, Australia.



Papa, on the other hand, was a lot more at ease at the beach. He walked Sophie along the beach the way he did with me during our wedding photo shoot in 2005.



Tired of walking, Sophie started playing on the sand with Auntie Rose and Papa. I had to bow out because someone had to stay clean, take the videos and look after the belongings, right?



Soon, it was Sophie’s mealtime (10 am) but we delayed it because she seemed to be having so much fun on the sand. I changed her into her swimming costume and let her continue with her sandcastle building (and destroying).



Well, the sand and the beach were apparently not enough for Sophie. She continued at the waterplay area despite our futile efforts to get her to wash up and eat. By the time she did, it was way past her mealtime and naptime. She was exhausted but she managed to stay awake until we reached Resort World Sentosa where Papa went for his shopping spree.

I like it very much when Papa spends quality time with his little girl. And she enjoyed her Papa’s attention as well. They have so little time together…

Letter "F" Book

Not sure if I have uploaded all my “F” based activities, but here is the book.

"求人不如求己"

I finally understood the meaning of "求人不如求己" and it all started with my attempt to look for a Chinese home tutor for Sophie. I have always been very resistant to teaching her Chinese, partly because I feel that I am not good enough. After my experience with the trial lesson I had arranged for Sophie, I am convinced that I can probably do the job better. At least I would do more research and use better materials. Even if my standard is not good enough, Sophie will somehow grasp the basics. My only foes - "时间" and "心有余而力不足".

"F" Based Activity - Food & Friends (Sushi Making Session)

This was a chance for Sophie to mingle with other children in an unfamiliar (play date) setting. Clearly, she was not quite sure what to do during the session (story time) when Auntie Annie wanted the children to raise their hands before answering questions. She had very little clue what was happening but she absorbed everything anyway. She was also not used to playing with other children so she just played with the toys on her own mostly.



I was impressed that Auntie Annie took a rather professional approach to the sushi making session. She read two stories for “tuning in” and she was able to capture the attention of very young children. Not easy at all.



Then came the sushi making demonstration. Although Sophie is a little too young to read words, I appreciate how Auntie Annie introduced the ingredients (words) one at a time to the children.

The session was rather engaging, even for Sophie. She did not really like to eat the sushi but she could remember the procedure and ingredients.

Back home, I used the craft kit (follow-up activity) provided by Auntie Annie to reinforce the lesson. Actually, I was not very sure how to do it.

I was glad that nowadays Sophie can tear off double-sided tape on her own and stick pretty well. She also knew what we were making and how to do it properly.

Sophie kept on sticking th pieces onto the "sushi" until all of them were used. Unfortunately, my memory stick ran out of space so I could not capture her reaction when she was done.

The end product was endearing to her. She would look at it occasionally and name the ingredients. All in all, she had a good session at Auntie Annie's place. Many thanks for the effort, Auntie Annie!

"F" Based Activity - Fruit Painting & Hand Painting

It was a last minute decision to do fruit painting so I had to get my helper to buy some star fruit for us. Then I used a slice of our apple (dessert) to supplement our variety. Sophie was quite happy to print with star fruit as the shape fascinated her, but she was not too thrilled about getting her fingers stained with paint.



I almost wanted to give up trying to distract her from her “dirty” fingers. Perhaps it is my fault because I always make her clean and keep the place tidy. Still, I wish she would be like before – messy and smearing paint all over.

We had some excess paint left so I tried to get her to do finger painting again. She made a few marks and insisted she had to hang it up for drying. She kept repeating what I usually told her when we had finished our art piece.



Unhappy that so much of the paper was left bare, I asked her if she would like me to make something with her. She requested for a dinosaur, so that was what I helped her create.

"F" Based Activity - Fairy Tale (Little Red Riding Hood)

I was clearing Sophie's cupboard when I chanced upon these laminated characters of Little Red Riding Hood. Back then (Sophie was 18 months old or so), I tried to start our tot school at home but it failed miserably. She was not interested and we ended up all frustrated and stressed out after each attempt. Sophie did not even like fairy tales or nursery rhymes then. In the end, I shelved my idea and let my resource book collect dust on the shelf. At 2.5 years old now, Sophie is more stable and ready for structured activities and learning. I only need her to sit still for 5-10 minutes to complete a lesson and now she can. Yeah!

"F" Based Activity - Fruit (Paper Mache)

As usual, I started out planning to make a couple of paper mache fruit for Sophie, but ended up with only one. It took me a few days to finish it because the glue on each layer had to be completely dried before I could work on the next layer. Fortunately, I "cheated" by using gum paper for the first layer. That toughened up the newspaper quite significantly so I did not need to put too many layers of kitchen towel after that.



We first heard the song from Play School (Australian Network). Sophie loved it so much that I searched YouTube for it. To my surprise, the one we had heard was a much shorter version. The original one is wonderfully catchy and enjoyable. Sophie has her own version too!

"F" Based Activity - Fingerpainting Or Handpainting?

We started out with finger painting, but somehow Sophie was not very keen. I felt that she was too conscious of the quality of her work so she hesitated and gave all sorts of excuses. In order to arouse her interest, I whipped out my resource book and created some handprint art with her. The impact was astonishing, she kept asking for more so we ended up with so many pieces of work.

"F" Based Activity - 3 Little Firefighters (Sorting By Shape/ Colour / Size)

After reading the books, I duplicated the fire fighters' uniform and let Sophie practice sorting the buttons before pasting them down permanently.

"F" Based Activity - Reading (Frogs, Feet, Fish & Firefighters)

We are not really in the mood for heavy duty sort of activities today, so we stuck to just reading and lazing around. Perhaps the weather played a part in our lethargy, or at least one could always hope it would not be permanent. From our "Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science 1" we picked out My Feet by Aliki, From Tadpole to Frog and What's It Like to Be a Fish? both by Wendy Pfeffer. The latter two are much too hard for Sophie to sit through so I merely summarized and showed her the pictures. For our "MathStart 1", we could only find 3 Little Firefighters by Stuart J. Murphy. Sophie was quite keen in the story but I think the concept of sorting needs to be explored a little further so I intend to extend it tomorrow.

Drummer

Oh Sophie was so keen on drumming sometimes. And she knew she was too loud for me so she told me to cover her ears.

GiGo Peg Board (Cont'd)

I love it when Sophie decides to focus intensely on her work. She looked so serious and determined. I wish she would be more stable soon.

Sketch Me A Dinosaur

Sophie drew this independently after cutting the piece of paper out from an A4 paper. If you look carefully, you can see that the edges on the left are rough and ripped, instead of cut. Well, she got frustrated with her safety scissors so she tore it off. She could tell me it was a dinosaur with spikes on its back, legs and eye. I thought she was brilliant.

"F" Based Activity - Fruit (& Vegetables) Salad

I thought of making real salad but no one at home eats so much fruit and we would have to buy a whole bunch of assorted fruit to make it work. Therefore, we used play food instead. Of course, Sophie complicated matters a little by adding vegetables as well into the salad.

Singapore Zoological Gardens

We are really not "outdoor" sort of people but we do not want to deprive Sophie from experiencing nature and learning about animals from first-hand encounters. So, we took the plunge and went to the zoo today. Our domestic helpher came with us and she was more excited than Sophie because the last time she visited the zoo in her own homeland was at least 20 years ago. And since her birthday is coming soon, she treated this trip as a present.

We were pleasantly surprised that the zoo was not as bad as we had feared, especially in the early morning. Although some of the animals were still sleeping, we still got to see quite a few animals in their enclosures before our boat ride.



Sophie was clearly fascinated by the white tigers. She stared at them and kept saying they were huge. In fact, we almost always underestimated the actual size of wild animals since we only get to see them on television. To Sophie, it must haave been amazing to see tigers swim in water as well.



Elephants are one of Sophie's favourite animals. We were not comfortable to let her ride on one though. I wish I could tell what she thought of the real animals as compared to the ones she saw in illustrations or cartoons.

Next, we took the boat ride. We were told to take it before it rained or it might be cancelled. So we did. I was quite happy after reading the information about the boat ride, hoping to see some interesting scenery or wildlife along Seletar reservoir. Nothing.



Well, at least Sophie was excited to ride a boat. We ended up in KidzWorld after the ride. It was a place designed to excite kids and burn adults' pockets. Of course, we were no exception. We bought a bundle ticket for a carousel ride, a pony ride and a horse carriage ride.



Uncle Simon has a Lego carousel at home so Sophie knew what it is. However, she had never seen a real one with so many different animal rides. She was overwhelmed and could not make up her mind which animal to ride on. Finally, we settled for the "Elephant".



After the pony ride at HorseCity, Sophie loves horses. She was quite happy to take a pony ride but the guy frightened her a little. He was not very "kids trained" unfortunately. She was reluctant to be held by him although she knew she had little choice. If you ask me, I prefer the pony ride at HorseCity - safer and longer ride.



Alright, this was a letdown. Papa said they could not see the horse in front and the ride was short and a little boring. Sophie sat in there without a word. I thought maybe she was a little tired and ready for her nap, but her energy came back when she saw the goats.



Papa bought a bucket of vegetable scraps and Sophie had a great time feeding the hungry goats. She chose to feed the smallest kids and we tried to chase the bigger ones away for her to do that. We found out that the goats were very smart, they would eat the carrots and beans but spit out leaves - fussy eaters. By the time Sophie was done, she was very tired. Thus, we quickly feed her at KFC before letting her nap on her stroller.



The rest of us had lunch while she slept. After a shorter than usual nap, she was ready to watch "The Rainforest Fights Back". I let her munch a little while we waited to keep her occupied and engaged. The performance was alright although she was not always very interested.

After the show, we decided to head home (around 2pm). Unfortunately, it started to rain when we were less than 500m from the exit. We took shelter and waited for the rain to become a drizzle before making a dash for the exit. All in all, we were happy that Sophie enjoyed herself despite the rain and the fact that we did not see all the animals. I suppose we would eventually become "Friends of the Zoo" when she hits 3 years old.

"F" Based Activity - Frogs, Fish & Flowers Figures

I got inspiration to do this from an American blogger mummy some time ago when she was hosting "Open-ended Art". She called it "Number of the Day" if I have not mistaken. Basically, we can let the child pick a number (e.g.1 to 10) and put up the corresponding number of items (e.g. frogs in a tree, flowers in pots or even candles on a birthday cake). It was a lot of work on my part, not to mention the effort of getting Sophie to go through the counting activity every day.

I was a little disappointed that Sophie did not really get all excited or enthusiastic about this activity. I think she really dislikes counting. She ended up up all stressed out because I got frustrated with her lack of interest. After a week of doing this, I shelved the idea and started thinking of alternatives again.

But while it lasted, I actually like this activity very much. It involved Sophie in the counting actively and it looked attractive (at least to me). If only it worked for her as well.

Self Feeding Progress - Breakfast

I am not particularly fond of taking video clips of mealtimes but I felt that if I always make such a fuss about Sophie feeding herself, I ought to document her progress. Regardless how painful it is for me.

"F" Based Activity - Football (FIFA World Cup)

Definitely this was more like Sophie than ballet. She has always been crazy about balls, especially the soccer ball. Whenever Ah Gong and Ah Mah come over, she would get them to play with her. And of course they gladly obliged all the time. Today, she tried to teach Ah Mah how to kick the ball. She even said, "Mummy, you try! Like this... Come on... Try, be brave!"

Sophie, The Ballerina Wannabe Now?

First, it was the Indian Classical Dance and now it is Ballet. Sophie saw the thriller for “Angelina Ballerina” and almost immediately started spinning around. She kept saying she wanted to learn ballet and she needed her costume. It made me look around for classes suitable for 2.5-year-olds. Apparently, there is nothing structured for very young children in the market. Proper classical ballet starts around 5 years old and the rest are more like dance and movement sort of thing for developing motor skills and music sense.

Bedtime Reading

Sophie likes “Spot” stories so we bought her a couple of its books in hope to trigger her independent reading. True enough, she remembers the words and often prefers to read on her own. I am naturally tempted to get her more but I feel that they are not the best literature for her. I am hoping to find some on “Biscuit” (puppy too!) and see how she respond to them.



Sophie does not always enjoy me documenting her. In fact, she sometimes wanted to be the camera girl instead.

Letter "D" Book

The “D’ book was completed a few days back but I only documented it today. In fact, I have already started the letter "F" with Sophie this week.

GiGo Peg Board

It was fun to watch how Ah Gong’s attempt to teach Sophie something that he has just learnt himself. He always laments that Sophie does not let him guide her so it is hard for him to teach. Imagine my daily experience!

"F" Based Activity - Flower (Handprints)

Nowadays, Sophie loves to say “I wanna do… myself” and “I wanna… try”. Sometimes, it was great to see the progress from an uncoordinated and awkward baby to a self reliant child with relatively good motor skills. Occasionally I also feel proud that she always try to exercise her own opinion and ideas.



At other times, I wish she would slow down a little, listen attentively and follow my instructions closely. It is very hard for her to learn because she gets distracted easily and she often gets really obsessed with her own thoughts, emotions and desires.



Having said that, I know Sophie is just being herself – a young child. Of course it would be easier for ME to have an intelligent, obedient little girl who is also eager to learn. It is a humbling experience for me as I learn how to educate and bring up such a spirited girl.



This "hand" flower is slightly different from the lilies we did many in April 2009. I remembered she was barely 14 months old then. How she has improved leaps and bounds.

"F" Based Activity - Float Or Sink

When I first did "S" with Sophie this year, I promised I would do Science experiments with her when she could understand better. We watched this particular experiment in Hi-5 once and she was very intrigued by the idea of "float" and "sink" ever since.

We used whatever we could find at home and I tried to make it more colourful and interesting for her. I think to her, the presentaiton has to be professional and visually appealing to be engaging (so pampered). But once her interest was hooked, she could remember everything well.

"F" Based Activity - Frog Song (Glumph)

Sophie learnt this cute little song from Play School (Australian Network), as usual. It was just as well because we are doing letter “F” this week. She can be quite a charm at times, but today she made me reflect on myself. I realised that I have not been smiling (grinning) at her a lot ever since she turned 18 months old. I have become so obsessed with “educating” and “disciplining” her that I resumed my old, stern “teacher” identity.



But she is not just any of my previous pupils, she is my beloved little girl who just wants to be loved. And she must be really confused and disturbed now to see my stern and worried face all the time, instead of the loving, laughing expression I used to show her. When she was born, I made it a point to smile and grin at her so that she would be a happy baby. Now, I am sorry to have lost it. No wonder she kept trying to rub my frown off with her fingers. No wonder she always say, “Mummy, don’t worry!”, “You are not happy?” and “Smile, Mummy! Smile!”.

And today she said, “Mummy, I made you laugh?!” after singing the “Glumph” song (I chuckled). She is always trying to make me happy. She only wants to see me smile. Whenever I got angry with her, she would try to give me her toys or stickers, she would insist on kissing and hugging me, and she would say. “Oh come on, Mummy… don’t be like that! I am here.” Now, I understand.

Alfee, My Boy

I am always worried at the clinic during our check-ups. There is a whole host of potential problems, including gestational diabetes, to worry about. Fortunately, I only put on 1.4 kg for the past month and 500g went to Alfee. He is currently around 1.26 kg, which is a good weight. I wonder how heavy he would be by the time he is 40 weeks old. I hope we can maintain a good 2kg increase of weight per month till end August.

Papa's Reading Readers

I like to see how Sophie cuddle up next to Papa to listen to a story (even though Papa was just reading a reader). As Papa seldom witnesses her attempt to read, he was so tickled and impressed every time she did it. And it was funny how he almost held his breath, hoping she would get all the words right.



I think Papa is very much like Sophie when it comes to reading. He feels more motivated to read to Sophie whenever she gives him the “wow” factor. Sometimes she impressed him with her vocabulary or general knowledge. And I bet Sophie is also very keen to impress him because his reaction is always very positive and dramatic (unlike mine).



It is probably good for Papa to interact with Sophie in quiet activities. He has observed how she evades every time she lacks confidence in something. I can tell him as many times as possible about her behaviour, but nothing beats experiencing it himself.



Papa was so soft hearted (towards Sophie) sometimes. The moment she pouted and appeared sad or disappointed, he had the urge to give her the world, just to see her smile again.

Self Feeding (Practice... Practice... Practice)

No, I am still uncomfortable with letting Sophie feed herself despite all the protests from her and warnings from "everyone else in the world". However, the above picture that I have taken yesterday gave me peek of the future to come. I doubt we can contain Sophie much longer. She could easily climb in and out of the highchair using a stool. We went to get her proper stainless steel fork and spoon in anticipation of more self feeding from now on.

I am more at ease with Sophie feeding herself during breakfast due to the nature of the food. Porridge is messy and too hot. THis morning, she tried to eat french toast and tomatoes using her fork. I think she is getting much better at it. Age probably plays an important part since she is almost 30 months old (11 June).

Horse Riding

Pony Ride @ Horse City (Turf Club Road)

We were supposed to take Sophie to Horse City at Pasir Ris but somehow, we ended up at Turf Club Road. It was a blessing in disguise because we got to visit some of the less known enrichment centres located there. And we were fortunate to be too early (before 9.30 am) as well because it started to rain the moment we were done with pony riding and Horse City. Papa got a chance to spend some quality time with Sophie while waiting for the pony ride.



This was Sophie’s first attempt at pony riding. Although she was scared and reluctant to ride alone, she looked very steady and profession on the pony. She enjoyed stroking the pony after the ride as well (despite the drool).

Sophie was exhausted and slept in the car almost right away, partly due to our impromptu trial session at a gymnastics school we found there. It was very tempting for us to let her attend lessons regularly but we need to think about it a little more.

Lunch @ Singapore Turf Club (Kranji)

After her nap, we found ourselves in Kranji, Turf Club. We saw the nice and quiet environment and decided to feed Sophie in the restaurant. We were right; we had a pleasant and stress-free experience dining there.



Papa always managed to convince me to let Sophie feed herself in a restaurant. Although she only ate the potato wedges voluntarily, we managed to smuggled some cheese macaroni into her mouth.

"F" Based Activity - Japanese Fan (Decorating)

I am not so sure if this activity add any value to her learning. It seemed logical to let her decorate a fan when I first thought about it, but I looked at the end product and started questioning myself.

Occasionally, Sophie would pretend to do a craft as a surprise gift for Ah Gong, Ah MAh or Papa (never me though). Maybe she needed a purpose and so she play pretended one.

Glitter glue is a miracle art material if you ask me. It can make anything look good...

"F" Based Activity - Fan (Folding)

To me, fan folding is a repetitive and boring activity. I am sure Sophie would find it distasteful as well, if not for the fact that the end product could look like a bow tie (as seen in an episode of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse).



It was interesting to see Sophie so engaged in drawing with her markers. Presentation is very important to her, apparently. If I put the markers in a box or on the table, she would be lukewarm in her work. However, she gets all enthusiastic when I put the markers in a tin pencil holder. Perhaps she loves the sound it makes every time she hits the inside as she takes or puts back the markers.



Sophie got very persistent about her “bow tie” initially. She thought she could use scotch tape and create her own design. I had not the heart to stop her. Sometimes it was wonderful to see how she insisted on cutting paper or tearing off scotch tape on her own.



Finally, she let me teach her folding. I cheated by folding and creasing the paper before letting her try it. At least it got her to finish folding the fan with minimal glitch. Except that she kept saying it was a “bow tie”.

Letter Of The Week - "F" For Feathers / "f" For Funny Foam

We started on the letter “F” partly because I got pretty bored with “D” (although I have not done the Letter “D” Book yet).



I recall a time when Sophie did not have the strength to even squeeze the “paint” brushes. Now, she could squeeze hard (after I cleaned off the dry, hardened paint) and even stab with them.



Personally I do not like working with feathers because they tend to “fly” everywhere. And Sophie has a tendency of “glue indulgence” so the feathers would stick to our fingers instead.



Sophie could probably do this independently but she enjoyed teasing me sometimes. She kept asking me to squeeze more paint out – “bigger?”



Cutting foam sheet was not too easy with Sophie hovering around me. She definitely has a mind of her own when art and craft is concerned. It is near impossible to stop her from doing whatever she wants.

Rapper?