c'mon, darling...

This is my favourite phrase. I hurry my children through the whole day with "c'mon darling, let's go!"

And this afternoon when Kristin woke up from her nap, she told her mommy, "C'mon, darling. Let's go!"

it's a cow!

Mommy: What animal goes "moo"?
Kristin: It's a cow. And you get milk too!
Mommy: Wow!

I think the sound animals make is just too simple for my little girl now. I shall try asking her what one can get from an animal or perhaps naming the youngs of animals.

word of the week...

Bryan: N-O- No, V-M - Vem, B-R - Ber. There, mom, NOVEMBER!
Mommy: ????? LOL

Today's Novmbr the 27th!

KAPUTT!

I was just thinking of the funny words my kids use to express something is out of working condition.

The top favourite for Kristin is "kaputt". It is German, but can also be found in the English dictionary. She moved on very quickly from "broken" to "kaputt" and probably thinks that this is her favourite word now when something is out of order.

Bryan likes to say, "Look. My ship is wrecked." Or, "look Mom, Meimei ruined my train!" And I constantly hear him scream, "Don't wreck this! Don't ruin that!" whenever the two are playing together. Yeah, you can almost sense his frustration coz Kristin is definitely not a very nice little sister now. She's going through the phase where she destroys all things! O help! Kaputt! Alles kaputt!

it's paying off...

Early February this year, I was eager to teach Bryan some sight words. Timing wasn't really perfect. He was reading a little and then became lazy to practise anything at all.

I always subscribe to the belief that creating a learning rich environment will enable a person to learn subconsciously. This has always been so when I sprinkled important lines all over my classroom when I was teaching German, especially near the main entrance/exit. You see, students go through them so many times a day. It would not be long that they would put the foreign sounds to the foreign words.

Anyway, I thought I could do the same with my kids too. All my passive learning aids were up in the hope that my kids would absorb something without me actively teaching them, e.g. the alphabet wall frieze, the posters, the sight word charts etc. After 9 months, I think it's paying off:

Bryan was using the alphabet wall frieze yesterday to spell his name and his friends' names yesterday.

Then he surprised me when he read out the whole of the "Where" and "my" sight word chart!

He couldn't have remembered from his memory coz:

1) It was about 9 months ago that I even uttered those sounds to him.

2) He was correcting himself as he read. The first two questions begin with "Where is", while the next three are "Where are". When he was at question no. 3, he was reading "Where is" initially and then self-corrected to "Er, no, it's Where are". And when it came to differentiating socks from shoes, I begin to believe that he's making connections with the little phonics that he learnt from Ms Julie's class last year. The words "shoes" was initially read with "s" sound. And then he self-corrected again when he saw the aitch and went "sh-oes".

He's definitely making the connections. How exactly, I don't really know. This reminds very much of the"litte black box" aka the Language Acquisition Device as proposed by Chomsky.

Till now I still haven't figured out how to teach him phonics, blending sounds. I tried using onsets/rimes, but he still has a long way to go when it comes to segmenting words into syllables. Honestly, I don't have the diligence to do work on something with him systematically every day.

But I'm definitely pleased that he's reading without any active effort of teaching on my part!

nocturnal vs diurnal...

I'm really pleased with what Ms Judi does in her class. It took me many years to learn about the terms nocturnal and diurnal, and now my 4 year-old son is just rattling off what nocturnal and diurnal animals are.

I wish I could do more with the kids, e.g. reading with them. Even that I hardly find energy to keep up.

false alarm...

Kristin woke me up today with her cries. It wasn't the usual cries for "Mommy-come-get-me" attention. It was weird. When I found her, her face looked so flushed that I only had one thing in mind: Is she afflicted by Scarlet fever?

Friends have told me that there had been cases in the Frankfurt International School and Internationale Schule Frankfurt. And knowing that Kristin comes into contact with the siblings of these children, chances were pretty high.

Anyway, I dropped Bryan off at school and then went off to the clinic with Kristin.
The doctor did a swab on hearing my account. Thank God that the test was negative. So it's just a common cold.

Sigh... no wonder I'm getting fat. You must be wondering what's being fat gotta do with my children being sick?

Well, I had plans to hit the gym and then spend the remaining of the morning in a sauna after a workout, but no, one of them has to spoil my plans. Already, I gave up my Monday for grocery shopping coz I had to bring a plate for the Thanksgiving Feast on Tuesday for Bryan's class and then attend his mini-concert. And now, Wednesday, I still can't spend time for myself! And whatabout tomorrow and day after?
Nope, the kids have no school (Thanksgiving holidays) and of course, the babysitters at the gym will not take Kristin in with her nose all runny now, or would they?

Now it's certainly easy to sit at home and get bigger on the waist, isn't it?

you hide, i seek...

The kids love to indulge in a game of tag or hide and seek these days, but mostly at home since the temperature has dipped.

Yesterday, I intended to bring them out for a short walk and and some fresh air. So it wasn't the usual routine for Kristin. Actually, the intent was to expend Bryan's energy. I could really have spared her from the cold. Anyway, cold air would do her runny nose some good too.

I sent Bryan to his room for his afternoon milk and strapped Kristin down to her buggy for hers. If she was in her room, in her bed, she would have knocked out immediately. When Bryan finished his milk, he came running out of his room looking for meimei. But he just couldn't figure out where she was. In the mean time, Kristin kept all quiet and was tucked away in one corner in the kitchen, grinning away. It wasn't long that Bryan enlisted Dad's help to look for Kristin. Daddy went up and down the hallway leading to the kitchen several times to hint to Bryan, and finally this girl let out a chuckle.

When Bryan had an inkling that she was in the kitchen and went looking for her, Kristin let out a "BOO!" and greeted her brother with a broad grin. What a cheeky girl! Her patience in waiting out for her brother and keeping all mum really amazed me. Think she's seen enough of hide and seek games going on in school to be a pro now.

On hindsight, it was an extremely BAD idea to let Kristin have her afternoon milk in her buggy. She cried for 5 minutes and refused to drink milk in her room when it came to bedtime. I should have known better to sabotage her routine. Hope she doesn't conk out in school today. I would love for her to go back to her afternoon nap routine after the weekend.

happy thanksgiving!

The school will be closed this Thursday and Friday for Thanksgiving and Bryan's class will be celebrating the occasion with a big feast and a mini-concert on Tuesday.

The kids have been practising diligently and it's not hard to guess what they're gonna sing during the party.

Well, I wasn't quite sure of this song myself, so I ran a check on the Internet. And yes, Bryan did get all the words correct!

Albuquerque Turkey
(to the tune of "Clementine")

Albuquerque is a turkey
And he's feathered and he's fine
And he wobbles and he gobbles
And he's absolutely mine.
He's the best pet that you can get...
Better than a dog or cat.
He's my Albuquerque turkey
And I'm awfully proud of that.

Looking forward to the mini-concert this Tuesday!

sunday school singing...

We made it in time to church this morning. When the pastor invited all the kids up to the stage to sing a couple of songs for the congregation, Bryan was among the first to charge up. Alan and I thought there must have been some mistakes. All the children were much older than Bryan, and our son involved in a performance? No way!

But it turned out that he's been rehearsing moves with his Sunday schoolmates all these weeks. And he did have a blast singing for the Lord! Don't you think? Good thing I had my camera in my bag this morning. Check out those shuffling feet towards the end of the clip and his electric guitar!






Just in case you're wondering, Bryan's the one on the extreme right, with the grey and blue jumper.

first parent-teacher-conference on Kristin's progress...

This was what we put down on the parent survey in the beginning of the school year:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
What are two things that you really want your child to improve on or learn this year?

Learning to articulate more accurately, learning to communicate her needs either in verbal or non-verbal ways, but not through her cries and whines.
Eating on her own.
Toilet training.

What are some strengths that you feel your child has?

Being the second child in the family, we feel that Kristin learns many things by watching, listening, imitating her older brother. She’s also very keen to repeat words whenever she’s asked to during our reading sessions at home. When she’s taught a new song, she is quick to hum along. In general, we do feel that she picks up new things at a relatively fast pace.

What are some of the weaknesses that you feel your child has if any?

Kristin can be short-tempered and stubborn at times. She has a tendency to sulk and throw a tantrum when unhappy or when she doesn’t get things her way.

What special interests does your child have that we might be able to incorporate into classroom activities?

Kristin enjoys music and movement.

Is there anything else you would like to share with me about your child?

We would say Kristin is generally a cheerful girl. If she isn’t smiling, then something could be amiss.
Her interest in food needs immense encouragement.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This was what the teacher had to say yesterday at the PTC.

"Kristin is a pleasure to have in class. She has settled in quite nicely with the group and our daily routine. When you ask her a question she does answer. She knows her colors pretty well, some shapes, most of the numbers and parts of the ABC's song. She always pays attention in class. She enjoys listening to stories, songs and other activities we do. When it comes to physical development I feel she is right where she needs to be. She at times can be quiet or shy, but once she warms up she doesn't hold back with what she knows. She is very alert when it comes to listening to stories, songs and other activities we do in class. She enjoys playing with her fellow classmates and also content with being alone at times. She is very proud when she sees her brother in school and she lights up when she does see him. She is one of the first few in class to try new things. She seems to be enjoying herself as well and we look forward to seeing how much she will continue to grow over the course of the the year.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Right now, both Mommy and Daddy are happy where you are. We are also very pleased to hear that you did not cry even once in class. And the tantrums? Well, Ms Jane and Ms Sri say that they never happen in class. Good. Let's just keep it that way. This will be a very exciting year for you and the whole family. This will be the time you'll be actively picking up more words that we will soon know that we can no longer ignore the attention due to you.

kristin talks...

She's been quite chatty recently. Just about time, 2 months into school. After four months of nursery Bryan attended in Singapore, not only was he talking at at the speed of a bullet train, he was also performing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Stars on keyboard. He was about 27 months old then. He did have the advantage of starting school a month earlier than Kristin did. And of course, he enjoyed much more adults' attention since young.

But I find Kristin's speech pretty advance too. E.g. I wanted her to go show Daddy her tongue. (Side-track: She has been having ulcers in her mouth since Saturday. Think trick-or-treating almost dehydrated her.)

She came back to me and she said, "I did (it) already!" Past tense! Wow!

This evening after dinner, Kristin was tugging at a cushion, dragged it across the living area and laid it down on the floor. When she realised that I was observing her, she explained her intent: I need to sit on the pillow, Mommy. See! And there she was, sitting on the cushion.

Ok, I wasn't going to argue that it was a cushion and not a pillow. I was very impressed that she sensed my curiosity and offered me an explanation for her silly antic.

More on her language to come...

happy halloween!

It's our first trick-or-treating altogether, ever: Daddy, Mommy, Bryan and Kristin!

We joined Bryan's friends from school within the American Community for a whole afternoon of fun! It first started with children's costume parade and costume contest. It turned out that the judges were swooned by our interpretation of an Indian girl, and Kristin unwittingly came in third for the "Best Costume Title"! Haha... finally our claim to fame! Doesn't she look cute in this costume?

Of course, it helped a little when she refused to walk with the rest of the children, dawdling all the way behind the line, and then as if it wasn't enough, she insisted that her Dad should carry her into the building where the judges were all seated. Daddy's height definitely made her entry among the last few kids grand!

But these kids were really cute and original, weren't they?

We have a headless man for the Scariest Costume, a girl on the table for the Most Creative Costume, and girls dressed up as horses as the Funniest Costume. 1st prize of the Best Costume went to the beautiful Princess and the 2nd was the Crooked Old Man with the crooked stick!

Our son didn't do too bad either, though he was a little disappointed that he didn't get a prize for his costume. Bryan was the only fire-fighter in the whole estate, while there were like Batman and many of his clones running all over the place. Spiderman was also a favourite outfit for the day.

And we didn't do too bad for our trick-or-treating too. Here's the children's stash.

Looks like we've got enough sugar to last us till Karneval!

But the day did not end on a good note with two very exhausted kids. They hardly ate dinner. Bryan even threw up during dinner (He had too much junk food the whole day - good excuse not to give him any more candy bars!), while Kristin was so tired to have anything in her mouth. In the end, we sent her off to bed at 8.15pm and Bryan was tucked under the cover by 8.45pm.

problem sums, problem PSLE maths!

This year's PSLE Maths Exam apparently caused a huge hoo-ha in Singapore. Wondering why? Check out this article here.

And if this is not enough, pick up a pen and some papers and work these challenges out! Bear in mind that it's not expected that these 12 year-olds should know anything about algebraic equations. So simple question, simple answer is key!

How does it fare with you? Drop your comments please!

Frankfurter Buchmesse

This was our annual pilgrimage to the "Mecca" of books - Frankfurter Buchmesse. Just like last year, the weather was fabulous! It was again a warm October Sunday, and we managed make it to the book fair no earlier than 3pm, as always. Yeah,we were quite pressed for time since the book fair was ending at 5.30pm.

We really did try hard this time to make an effort to be early: We left church immediately after the service ended. When we got home at 12.55pm, I found myself frantically getting lunch ready that I even forgot to take off my jacket. Got the kids fed by 1.45pm. Well, if only they could eat faster... if only they could eat on their own.... Then in between, Alan had to go change a soiled diaper for Kristin, and finally we had our lunch. And since it was such a brilliant day, we left home at about 2.15pm and thought, hmmm, why don't we let Bryan cycle there so that we could tire him out a little and he wouldn't be whiny by bedtime??

So we did. Instead of hopping onto the next U-Bahn, which we are by the way only a stop away from the Trade and Convention centre, we took a long leisure walk, while Bryan cycled and Kristin was sitting happily in the pram. So by the time we made it through the ticket office (yes, we had to pay 10 Euro per adult for entrance), past the entrance and up onto the shuttle bus and across the many halls in the whole Trade and Convention Centre, we finally arrived at Hall 8 at 3.15pm. That's where all the English books were housed. Ok, we were a tad earlier than last year, since we did not stop by the German Children's books section in Hall 3 this time round, and we also did not make the mistake of getting to Hall 8 on foot!

By about 3.40pm, we only managed down the A, B, C aisles, and there were plenty more to go. I think we were barely 1/4 through the hall and we got only a magnifying glass at 8 Euro (yeah, we came to a book fair to get Bryan a magnifying glass), a poster on learning about time (the Malaysian exhibitors were so friendly that they also gave the kids posters of the Malaysian states), two more posters on numbers from another Malaysian exhibitor (the kids received a pack of colouring pages, puzzle and stickers from them again) and two Christian books on Love from 1 Corinthians, and a Time for Everything from Ecclesiastes 3 at 4 Euro (we really didn't want to appear that we were bargaining. They wanted 5 but between Alan and myself we only had two 2 Euro coins. And we didn't want to break our 50 Euro note.) By this time, Bryan had gotten himself another free book on Pirates from another exhibitor. What a lucky boy, was the only thing I could say in an attempt to hide my embarassment! Then at this particular stand, I saw these Write and Slide wipe offf books for Phonics, Spelling and Maths. Now I couldn't resist. I knew I had to get them. They were at 8 Euro each! I thought, that's awfully cheap, considering they all had a sticker on one corner that read 7.99 GBP! So I got all three of them. Then when we got home, Alan discovered that it said 15.99 GBP each at the back of the book! Yeah, you can see the proud smile I was wearing on my face.

Ok, it was almost 4pm and we still hadn't got much in our bags, unlike last year. I was fretting when I reached Harper Collins and Sterling. Bryan and I picked up 3 Berenstain Bears and 5 People You Meet in Heaven from Mitch Albom at Harper Collins and I was about to pay when I realised I had to get some cash from Alan. So I told the man I would be back and went back to Alan when he was hanging around the Sterling booth. Then he pulled me aside and showed me the piece of paper on the floor: Free Books! The peace didn't last long when the Sterling people started shouting, Free Books! By this time, there were 30 odd people at the stand and they were grabbing whatever their eyes fancied. I went through the children's books and cookbooks briefly and twice I was pushed out by the crowd. Haha... looks like Singaporeans still have a long way to go when it comes to being a world-class kiasu freebie grabber!

Anyway, we were quite happy with the giveaways at Sterling and we called it a day since people were already ripping off the carpet in the other part of the hall. Yeah... we still didn't make it half way through one hall, just like last year, but we went home with a lot of books. At first, I was still fretting about how late we arrived at Hall 8 and how cash low we were - we did try to get cash but the ATM at the entrance was out of order. Now I finally know things happened for a reason. And Sterling was the reason!

Just a look at the free books we gathered:
The left pile was given and the right pile was bought.

And this is my ecstatic find at Sterling:

Yes, Bryan loves the rhymes here!

And the hero of the day was Alan! Imagine he carried back most of the books in one huge blue Ikea bag. How many times did we swear last year that we would return this year with a suitcase? Why didn't we learn our lesson?

Here's one with Daddy enjoying his hard work:

Oh I conveniently forgot about Harper Collins. Look, we wouldn't want to add on to Alan's burden, right?