Multiparenting Cayen & Cayson

Cayen went downstairs to the pool with my helper today to do some skate scooting as they couldn't find us on 14th floor. I was told that he stood there , saw Xavier in his home and beckoned him to come down to join him on the 5th floor. That's the first time he did that (he arranged his own play date!) and I was impressed by the great leaps he has made recently in forging friendships. He had a great time with Xavier as they examined millipedes and even spotted a grasshopper. He was also scooting much faster than before, perhaps due to positive influence from Xavier.  Later on, both of them went to another neighbour's house to play and i was happy to know that he was able to play very well with them.  When I finally picked him up half an hour later, he didn't want to go. He wanted to stay with his friends and play with shadows in the bedroom where they are hunting for some animals. (This is ironic as he's always saying he doesn't like the dark every ...

Brought the two boys to this fairly new playground at Amara hotel. It was a small  space but suitable for kids under 3. Good thing is that crowd is small even during peak hours (<15 kids). Cayen made a few friends at the playground and hence, he was able to play for extended periods using simple props like the balls and the slide etc. It was good as he had seldom played extensively with other kids like catching and devising their own games . Think the small setup made it easier to make friends. Anyway, the friendships weren't without any trials, he had a shouting match with a three year old before they started playing and decided they were best buddies. Then, he played with a six year old for about 3 hours and in between, they had a tussle over the exercise ball and he tried to bite the kid because he said he got to the ball first. But later on, after he calmed down, he went over to apologise and they resumed friends and were best friends again. They also admitted another c...

Why I like to use storybooks as a tool to promote good behaviour because they work far better than nagging when it comes to pointing the point across. Also, kids tend to be more receptive to listening to stories as opposed to being told what to do. They also understand it more when examples are given in the story.  As such , apart from reading parenting books, I have also bought and read a lot of children books that impact certain skills - both English and Chinese. And I will try reviewing and sharing them here in this blog.  It's an interesting book with colour pencils as characters where each colour has a certain trait / personality and Brown was initially disliked. The story went on where he uncovered why people didn't like him and how he changed and how he made friends eventually.  I like the simple but interesting story and so did Cayen.    By the way, I tried to make the book more interesting by asking him to relate which of his classmate rel...