Sharing some of the stuff we are doing

Been some time since I blog again. As I was downloading the photos, one of the folder in the camera just got moved! Where?? I dont know! Haiyah! So I got a whole stack of photos missing. And that included Ben's Bao Bei concert photos.


But to tell you the truth, we did not take many photos for the concert. Ben was having one of his tantrums. The story started right after the one week school holidays. Daily Ben has been refusing to go to school. I had to drag him to the toilet, take bath, drag him into the car and throw him in the class, with him whining the whole time.


He: I dont want to go to school.

Me: Why?

He: I dont like. I want to go home

Me : Why?

He: It is not nice?

Me: Why it is not nice?

He: It is not beautiful.


I dont kow why this habit came about. I have checked around with other mothers. They asked whether it is because there are any changes in our life (nope, no siblings coming along!)....and another mother said that sometimes children will regress. She told me to be patience and to continue to send because one day, he will need to go to school. I also have to keep a positive environment as well. At first, this was hard to do as he kept whining but the teachers help as well. Once I push him through the gates, the teachers will quickly divert his attention and voila, once I was gone, he did not cry.


The funny thing was that this has never happen for such a long period of time before. It may happen occasionally but never for as long as 2-3 weeks. Today Ben was still whining.


So for the concert, again, he did not want to go. It was early Sunday morning and I had to hold him down to change into his costumes. Guess what? He was in rage and tore at his shirt...all the buttons popped out! We had to use a safety pin. Due the missing folder (however the school had professional photographers), I can only show you what he got from the concert.




Surprise, surprise, yes, he got a trophy and a medal! For best improved student and the other one is a merit award I think. You know, I cannot read Chinese and my Mandarin is not that great when I was trying to understand the explanation given by his teachers.

Ok, other things that we are doing at home now is I am trying to teach him to read - Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Lessons! Yes, this is a great book (and only about RM80 as well!). At first, I was a bit sceptical but once I start, I could see the sequence of teaching phonics.


Unlike other programmes which just have a phonic song, cards, stories...this one actually even has the dialogue to tell me what to say during lessons....which only last 15 minutes. Before this, when I checked on other phonics program....


example : MAT - Ma...Ahhhh...Tuh....and then they will saw it so fast..until it becomes MAT...but I never understood how??!!!


With this book...it teaches to say it slow first...MMMMMat.....say it fast..MAT! So when you sound out the individual letters, MMM...Ahhhh....T (because the T is a short sound and it usually is for many words)...so it becomes...MMMM AT.....which then becomes MAT! when you say it fast....! So logical! So good for me! And only RM80 for the whole book without needing to supplement with any other products - stories, songs or anything.


My issue now is that Ben is really plafyful and would not focus. But I have been trying to get him to pay attention to me....until today, I bribed him with a square of chocolate which my parents brought back from Auckland!

This is the tracks that we set up for Ben using our old coffee table which we kept in the storeroom after Ben was born. Not as big as friend's but keeps him occupied and keeps the living room much neater as well!

Supplemented the current tracks with a crane and a palm tree!