Finally my hard work pays off. Opps I meant my son’s hard work. :dance: :dance: :dance: He scored full marks on English spelling today. I am so very happy for him. He is excited too. The teachers were pleased. The last method does work. Thanks for all your great ideas. I will continue to play spelling games and hangman with him. Anyway, I have to pass this important task to my hubby now. :giggles:

Yet another challenge I am facing as a parent. Tim’s school started to teach spelling. Tim is given 2 words for spelling each week for English, BM and Chinese. I am not sure whether is it a suitable age to learn spelling. He is 4 going to 5, considered 5 years old this year. I know my son is not a fast learner. It didn’t work well with him, he has been getting lots of eggs each week. Some of the ways to teach a child spelling:

School way:
Write the word 15-20 times, hoping it will sink into his memory at the end of the day. My son writes it diligently and forgets about it. It didn’t registered at all.

My first attempt:
I asked him to repeat the letters 10-15 times, example c-a-t, cat. He repeats it together with me. After he finished, I asked him to spell cat, he looks at me blank. He could say c ? ?

My second attempt:
I was scratching my head, surfing in the net and bookstores to find creative ways of teaching him spelling. Finally my light bulb turns on. I decided to cut square of alphabets and play spelling game with him.

I gave him all the letters that makes up the word “cat” and ask him to arrange it. Sometimes give him a mixture of 2 words and ask him to form it. Visual helps him to register the letters in his memory.

In school, one of the test, the word b-a-p-a, he wrote b-a-p. I know it is still wrong but it is some progress shown. I was hoping for the teacher to encourage him by giving him a ½ marks but that didn’t happen.

If you have better idea, do share with me.

Suddenly I just want to write about Apples. I am seeing too many things that have apple extracts in my home. Kleen Floor Apple Fragrant that cleanse my floor. I have Apple Glo detergent for washing the dishes. I have Apple soap for washing my body. Not to mention, my ribena now has apple extracts. I wonder if there is an apple fragrant perfume. My friend once said she will never use a fruity fragrant perfume because she doesn’t want to be a walking fruit. :giggles:

I am not sure how this is true, some mothers’ tales claim that if you eat an apple a day during pregnancy, your baby will have lots of hair.

In Tasmania, the land of apples, they have so many apples that each day they will throw a lot away. Why? The farmers do not want the price of apples to drop for their own gain.

Lastly, there is a children rhyme that goes “An apple a day keeps the doctor away. If the doctor is handsome, throw the apple away”. Ha.

While I was shopping with Tim & Emily in Tesco, Tim put his book over Emily. Emily pushes it away.

Emily: Noooooo… Mummy, kor kor disturbed Emily. Go away.
Mummy: Tim, don’t bully Emily yeah.
Tim: No ah, I just want to play with Emily.

Later, at the check out counter.

Emily poked kor kor shirt.

Tim: Nooooooo, don’t do that. Mummy see Emily poke me.
Mummy: Emily, why you poke kor kor?
Emily: No ah, I was just playing with kor kor.

Mummy… :snooty:

My hubby started to use a marker pen to draw a smiley face on his belly to humor the children. Not a good idea. The children were quick to follow and start to request the same for their belly button. Somehow it got out of hand. Look!! :snooty:

On Friday (12 Jan 2007) night, I was walking into the room. Suddenly Tim shouted “Mummy Look!!”. He showed me his palm with a little white thing on it. I took a look and say “Oh dear! My son is a big boy now”. He lost something that was with him for 4 years and 6 months. He had it when he is 4 month old. Yes, he had it very young and he got a full set by 1 year old. By the way, he is 1.5 years early.

What it is? Look.

How did he loose it? He was blowing a “duck whistle” remember that? I guess he bit too hard on it and the tooth came out. No, no tooth fairy.

I started teaching both my children to brush their teeth when they are 1 year old. Before that I had to clean it for them using a cloth and toothpaste. I used the “First Teeth” toothpaste, non-fluoride and 100% ingestible. It has natural protective enzyme. You can get it from Guardian Pharmacy in Malaysia. I am proud to say, their teeth are pearly white. Training your child to take care of his teeth at young age is important, so that he can grow old with it.

For interest, here is a diagram on the estimated timeline for milk teeth in a child.

I am so very happy today. Something surprises me as I walked into my company. Along the corridor, I saw the very picture that I submitted 2 years ago, participating in my company monthly photo contest. I won 1st prize for it and I was so excited. My colleagues congratulated me.

A few months later, one of the US offices requested permission to put that picture on their site office wall. I was grinning ear to ear when I saw that email.

Today, it was put up along the walk way of my company. They framed it up not in small size but a huge one. The height covers 70% of the wall. :dance:

It is a significant picture as the bird gave birth to 2 little birds and I gave birth to Emily. It was period of time, not the same day though. I believe the 2 little birds out there will be the same age as Emily.

As you know, school started last week. All the anxious mothers are sending their little toddler to school. A few mothers are in a dilemma on when to start. So I thought I might share some of my experiences.

For me, I started my children with nursery cum preschool at age of 2. I had no choice because I didn’t have any reliable babysitter. If I did, I probably let them go to school at age of 5. I am not so keen on pressurizing my children with their academic results at this stage or age. Which is why I hate teachers who tell me that my son has not done his homework? Hey he is only 4, give him a break. So what if he doesn’t complete his homework, it is probably no value because the homework is a vicious cycle of writing alphabets or numbers.

If you have decided to start your child with school, prepare your child for it. You can bring your child to check out the place. Brain wash Tell him/her what he will do in school, introduce the teachers to him/her. Make it informal as possible so that there is no build up of anxiety or fear. I believed once the child get acquainted with the teacher, your child have no problem going to school. Bottom line is find school with friendly teachers. Emily has a favorite teacher which is why she has no problem waking up for school.

Before the first day, you can take your child to shop for his/her school bag or water tumbler. Let them pick one that they like. Make them feel excited. You can also let them have 1 small toy that he/she carry to school, able to keep in the bag during class time. It acts as a security blanket to him/her.

Lastly on the day of school, do not be anxious or keep telling the child about school. Act casual like any other normal day. As stated, we do not want to build anxiety and fear. Your child is smart to sense your anxiety. It will be good on the first day to be with them in school, so that you can also experience what activities the school have. Second day, you can quietly sneak out.

After the above said if your child still cries, you just have to play mean and walk away quickly. Otherwise, the more you pacify, the more he cries and the harder for you to leave. The teachers are experience enough to handle situation like this. If they are not then it really tells you something about the school. You may have to live with the crying for a week or so. If it goes more than 1-2 months, it shows that your child is not ready or the school is questionable.

Tim didn’t cry for the first week or second week. However, the nursery had a very high turn over of teachers which he didn’t like. He is not so good with fierce teacher because he is a timid boy. When he tells us he doesn’t want to go to school, we know that his class has change teacher. As for Emily, she cried for a month or so every morning to school but during school time, she enjoyed it. Eventually she stopped the morning cry when she got acquainted with her favorite teacher.

This is a sponsored post.

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During my primary school days, I am one of those junkies, eat a lot of junk food. I love to get this bubble gum that cost 5 sens for 2. I will eat the gum and behind the wrapper there is a picture. With that, you can tattoo the picture on your back of the palm. You take a few drops of water. Make the picture a bit wet. Then paste in on your hand. Later the picture will appear. Have you ever had that? Those were the days.

A few days back, I got this Bob The Builder tattoo that works on the similar concept. For my children, it is the first time they ever seen it. They thought it was a sticker but they couldn’t peel it. I showed them how it is done. Emily was pretty excited with the picture on her hand, kept asking for more. Tim was just playing cool.

I hope this bring back some childhood memories of yours. Ooh by the way, I love those bubble gums, I can blow a bubble as big as my face and pop it so that my entire face will be cover with gum. It is easy to peel off and my parents won’t have a clue.

Guess the hands: