Using Phone

It just crossed my mind that how come I have not taught JS how to use the phone earlier. Of course she has been exposed to phone, be it toy phone or the real one since she was a baby but I just realize that I have not taught her how to dial and make calls. She can answer the phone and all the while when we wanted her to call her Guma or Ahmah, it’s usually either hubby or me making the call for her.

When I was away attending classes, one night when I got home to a very insecured and sad looking JS, the idea suddenly came striking in my head. I taught her how to make phones call to daddy to make her feel better. Instead of dialing from the speed dial and phone book, I made her to punch in the numbers that I’ve written on the paper for her.  To her, this experience seems to be a new discovery. The next day I wrote down my numbers and hubby’s number for her on the paper for her to keep and told her that she can call us anytime.  She’s now enjoying her newfound discovery. I hope very soon she can remember our numbers by heart.

It’s vital for parents to teach children to make calls at young age. It’s a survival skill. It’s not just enough to teach them to dial from speed dial or phone book, it’s important to teach the child to memorize at least the parent’s numbers by heart. This will come in handy in any emergency situation if the child does not have/lost the handphone.

Now JS’s been asking me for a handphone for her new school term.

“Mummy, can I have a handphone to bring to school?”

“Why?”

“because I want to call mummy.”

“you can use the teacher’s or school phone”

A Big Girl

Collected JS’s new school uniform. Looking at the dress, no longer can deny that she’s a big girl now. Last year, her school uniform was just a T-shirt and short, but now with a proper dress, it gave the feeling of so grown up.

She can’t wait to try on the new uniform and also can’t wait for the school year to start. I hope she will have a better than in this school than the former one.

A Wonderful Experience

When I was staying with my parents, that was an evening that I brought the kids out for a walk and to visit a kindy (a montessori one) a few blocks away.

The principle greeted us warmly and because she has got two other parents to attend to, she told us to look around and she even told WH and JS that they were free to play with the materials. Knowing that in a Montessori school, children are taught to respect all the materials, I did not allow my kids to misused the materials.  ( I didn’t tell the principle of my knowledge in Montessori)

The kids and me were looking on the material and at the practical life area, there were a few activities (not really completed because it’s school holiday) , I brought down a tray with a bowl of different colourful stones, a pair of tongs and three small plates. Obviously it an activity to sort the stones by colours into the small plate by using the tongs.  I presented the activity to WH (eventhough I know he might not be able to use the tongs properly as his wrist muscles strenght is still not strong to operate the tongs) , WH wanted to try straight away, but I told him ” let mummy show you how, and you can have your turn later” and he really obeyed and sit down beside me to watch. I didn’t present the whole cycle of the activities and all the while I did it in silent so that he can observe and copy the same. What I did was to use the tongs to take up stones from the bowl and placed it on the small plate. I sorted 2 blues in one plate, 2 greens in another and 2 reds in the third one. ( I’m suppose to finish everything in the bowl before asking him to try) and passed the tongs to him and said ” you can have your turn now” after which I went to chat with the principle leaving him behind to finish off the activity by himself.

It was a good 10 minutes before he came to me and called ” mummy, mummy” with the pride and smile in his face but I didn’t go to his work place to check on his activity and continued chatting to the principle. We chatted a good 15 minutes. In fact the kids were quite good when they were there, they didn’t stick on to me like when they were at new places, they just went to explore the place by themselves andI feel safe to let them roam because it’s a child safe environment.

When I finally finish with the principle and went to check on WH, he has actually finished the transferring activities sorting out a full bowl of stones correctly into respective plates. But he didn’t use the tongs, instead he went to the shelf and took a spoon for another spooning activity to do the task. He did it perfectly and I couldn’t really believe it and asked if JS has helped, but the helper there who has been observing WH said that he has done it all by himself with the spoon.  I’m really proud of him.

During the workshop, I can’t help to question in my mind ” will the kids be able to do xxx activity at 2 1/2?” but I got my question answered when I see WH’s worked on the activity (he’s 25 months and he can perform the task) .  Kids are able to concentrate and work on the material spontaneously if they are interested in it and they are able to have the mental concentration of doing the task and after which they feel proud of being able to complete the task. I really saw the contentment and pride in WH face when he came to me and when I praised him for a good job done.  And it’s also amazing how kids can find solution to finish the task ( instead of using tongs, WH used a spoon and not his hands or fingers) I also noticed that in a prepared environment, which is so interesting to the kids, they will also loves to be part of it.

 With this experience, if I really get a chance, I want to expose WH as early as possible to a Montessori playschool.  During the workshop, the lecturer said the vital year to start is 2 1/2, I really dont want WH to missed out the sensitive period and benefit from it.

Tough Time

I was having a particularly hard time with JS since we got back last week. She was super clingy and overly demanding and to the stage of being unreasonable and I get irritated by that.

Though I know she has been feeling very insecured due to that I was away during the day for 2 full weeks, but still I dont see her behaviour acceptable and I lost my cool on her a few times.  I feel very frustrated and see myself as a failure of not being able to bring her up to me more independent. I lost of patient and has been very harsh with my words on her and at certain point of time I even feel that I dont love her as much as before. It’s a contradicting feeling that in my heart I want to be patient, to hug her and give her reassurance. It’s really tough.

I feel that I’m a failure , because I do not put what I’ve learned into practice. I shall respect her feeling, give her the freedom to express her feeling and guide her along the way, but I failed to do so. I dont know how to guide her to express her feeling in a better way than being acting difficult on me. (she has missed her annual yamaha concert at the shopping mall the other day because she refused to go on stage, she just want to cling on to me and refuse to go on stage. There were many more incidents last week that she was super clingy *sigh*)

Result

Last week I received a call from MMI informing me the marks of my practical exam. Marks for each area were told and my overall mark was 79/100. I was totally dissapointed with my result. I had high expectation and I really want to excel. Unfortunately this was the result that I’ve got. Unlike when I was doing my degree years back, I wasn’t that concern on the mark as long as I pass and get the cert, but this time round, because I’m really doing this out of passion and I really want give the best of it.  Really a long way more to go… have to work hard on my written exam and the remaining assignments.

Feel a little regret of taking up this course so late… regreted that I didn’t take up a early childhood course 10 years earlier. Felt like loosing out on time to realize where my passion lies.

PC Kaput

Thought that I can go online and blog full force after coming back from Subang, but my pc died on me after a thunder storm on Tuesday last week. Being strike by the lightning. First sent to the shop for a day to have the motherboard changed. Took back the pc the next day and realize that something wrong with my streamyx. I suspected the modem prob, called TmNet to log a case on Thursday and didn’t get a respond until this evening. Tmnet service really sucks!!! Just a simple modem problem but refused to come and look into it and left me so many days isolated from the net!!!!!

So many things to catch up now… need to download softwares to be installed in the pc…

I was so enthusiated about PPP and also comtemplating on going dot com last week and now mood also no more liao. Hhhmm…shall I or shall I not go dot com?