Multiparenting Cayen & Cayson

After 2 years of hiatus, we had our first in person PTM for Cayson last Sat. And perhaps it might be the second last or last PTM before he graduates into Primary school next year., As Cayson always speaks fondly of this one friend Im , and on occasion Ca and Cl, I was a bit worried if he has other friends too so I asked the teachers if there’s any concern about mixing and socialising in general. But thankfully both English and Chinese teachers confirmed that he’s a very amicable child who will get along well with friends and won’t fight or insist on his ways - he’s like a model student so there’s no concern.  However, because these few boys like similar toys and also are a bit more worldly in their conversation topics (I think they even talk a lil about Russia and Ukraine when I tried to probe) so they get along relatively well as they end up chatting non stop to the extent that sometimes teacher gotta separate Cayson and Im.  Cayson also continues to adopt a positive mindset ...

Cayson has been taking online piano lessons and physical violin lessons. I think he has been observing for a while , before he couldn’t help but ask the question to Ah Pa yesterday, “When can I get the proper piano lessons?” Perhaps he has seen or heard about Cayen’s physical lessons and hence, he’s asking.  This little boy also seemed to have a knack for numbers. Ah Pa showed him this computation on his iPhone , and he was able to replicate it on his own thereafter. He was quite pleased about it and repeated it a few times using the calculator.  12345679 x 81  12345679 x 72  By the way, you can try this for other multiples of 9 too like 12345679 x 63, 54, 45, 36, 27, 18, 9 . 

I usually asked Cayson if he’s kind today. Usually, he doesn’t share anything specifically but today he’s excited to share that teacher did ask him something related today.  Teacher has asked how to be kind and caring to someone ? Cayson said something like, “ Ask someone what makes them happy?”  I didn’t quite get it so I asked him what he meant. He said,  “When old people in wheelchair are sad, you ask them what will cheer them up , and then they tell me and I will do it”  Whoa ..  that’s quite thoughtful.  Apparently the teacher was impressed too, she told Daddy about this as well , that he’s caring and he knew how to express it.  ——-  Funny note:  Later that day  , Ah Gong dropped him home but didn’t go home together.  Cayson: Coronavirus. Why Ah Gong still going mahjong?  Ah Pa: Why you didn’t tell him not to go?  Cayson: Ah Gong don’t listen. 

Cayson’s QOTD: “ You cannot scold me , I’m a kid.” “ 静静有条！” Cayson exclaimed when trying to ask Cayen to keep quiet at night. (It’s actually 井井有条） He probably declared after he wiped the table, “干干净净”. I was impressed and asked him where he learned it from. He said Berries. Then he asked me earnestly again if I had gone to Berries when I was a kid.  Recent other chats Cayen:  What is the tax? 7%?  Me: Yes  Cayen: So for every $100, I have to pay $7. Oh then I will just buy $50 so I never need to pay the tax Me: No, it doesn’t work that way, it’s from first dollar onwards…  (For the rest of the whole night, he self entertained and made jokes about asking for 7% extra for everything) ———————————— Cayson’s meet the parents session  As usual, he got glowing comments about being a model student. In fact, he seemed to enjoy reading and learning and would even consult his good friend I in school when there’s words he doesn’t know how to read from the textbook. An...

Cayson likes to play chinese chess with Ah Po but he doesn’t like to lose. And Ah Po claims she often loses if she doesn’t wear her glasses. So one day after Cayson lost a few games, Ah Po’s glasses went missing ! Cayson had hidden it away .. only to return it the next day.  Ah Po was amused by how he could remember where he had hidden it and how he hates losing.  ——  I made an attempt to cook Japanese pasta and I threw in shreds of onions for the taste. Cayen picked them up one by one. I was frustrated and asked if he had an onion detector in mouth. He replied, “ I have a tongue”. Lol ! 

In a year of Covid19, time flies faster than ever. We had our second parent meet teacher Teams session recently. As usual, Cayson received glowing compliments for being a good boy in school and above average mandarin skills (amongst mostly expatriate friends haha). And I also learned that he has planning and patience as well. Here’s why.  Usually to start the day, he would have milk at home. Then on some days when he requests (since his school provides breakfast and we don’t want to waste), we would pack some small “fish” snacks or small piece of bread to bring to school. What we learned is that other kids may sometimes pack their own afternoon snack to school (though school provides). As Cayson also wants his own snacks during tea, he would ration what he brought for breakfast , and leave a tiny morsel behind for tea. Teacher observed it, was rather amused and asked him to finish the morsel during breakfast as it’s a real small piece to start with but he mustered all his willpower...

Cayson and Cayen were at the river safari last week with Godma. When they came back, there were all having some kind of leg pain. They eventually feel asleep  at 10pm  but getting them to wake wasn’t easy, especially for Cayson. When I dropped him off at school today, he didn’t want me to leave after the goodbye hug. In fact it got tighter and soon he started bawling. That’s very unlike him as he’s a very easy child to handle even in the mornings. Finally his teacher came back and carried him upstairs. Teacher was nice enough to send me a note 15 minutes later that he’s already gone and enjoying breakfast with his friends so I should not worry.  Apparently in late afternoon, he went to teacher and apologised to the teacher for crying. He told his teacher he was sorry he cried during morning drop off because he never slept well last night. What a wonderfully sensitive and self aware child he is at 4 years old!  —— On the other side, Ah Pa came back with freshly colour...

Cayson after tasting very sour blueberries... Cayson: Ah Pa, try some. Ah Pa tried it but it was a tad sour.  Cayson: Do you like it ? Ah Pa: Yes ...  Cayson: ok, you can have it. Haha..  —- Today, I was washing dishes and my hands are full.  Cayson: Ah Ma, can you cut me some oranges? Me: I don’t know how to Cayson: Oh, first you open the fridge. Then you go to the bottom, then you pick up the orange. Then you cut it into small pieces, so I will not dirty my shirt because I bathe already.  Whoa! He sure knows his facts very well where food is concerned. 

Cayson had his first dental visit 2 weeks ago to investigate a funny gap in his teeth. Unfortunately, it’s the start of a cavity so dentist advised that some filling might be needed but perhaps on another day so he doesn’t get completely traumatised. For a first trip, he was quite apprehensive for the initial minutes but he acclimatised shortly, after we let him play computer games to distract him.  And so here we are, 2 weeks later, for the filling and we hope it works else we would need to transfer to a specialist if he’s not cooperative. Dentist was trying to get him to endure the filling for 5 counts, 7 counts and 10 counts progressively and he did it somehow.  He’s so brave and cooperative (though I know he’s scared). Perhaps the free lego toy from last trip and the minecraft YouTube playing on screen now helped to distract him a bit as well. Kudos to the dentist who remembered his preferences from 2 weeks ago! The YouTube channel was set up for him before he even start ...

Day 1  Cayson ( to Ah Po): I want to have 5 pieces of oranges, 2 for Ah Yen and 3 for me.  Ah Gong: How about me? Cayson: Ok, I want 6 pieces, 1 for Ah Gong.  Day 2:  Cayson (without prompting): I want to have 6 pieces of oranges, 1 for Ah Gong, 2 for Ah Yen, 3 for me.  Such is the kind nature of this four year old. Always looking out for his big brother , always willing to share and always remembering the small stuff that melts people’s heart.  Just like that, he graduated from a toddler to a four year old, facing the COVID-19 situation heads on, donning on mask for hours in school and understanding what it means by social distancing and the term coronavirus.  So naturally, he empathised whenever someone is in trouble. So selflessly, he intuitively shared all nice things with his big brother. So effortlessly, he charmed everyone with his appetite for good food and his master attempts to mimic Ah Po’s Hokkien.. “Diam4 Diam4” he said to the cats when t...

Relative to Cayen, Cayson is harder to teach at 3.5 years old as we’re still trying to get him to know the alphabets and numbers 1-10. I also observe that during our weekly Shichida lessons where the other kids seem to be memorising the flash cards readily while Cayson is usually silent. (It was not always like that in the last semester but he’s less engaged and quieter in this one. Not sure if it’s due to change in teacher or that his best friend is no longer attending).  So just to spice it up, Ah Pa Cayson for a trial lesson for Kumon and they gave him some papers that includes simple maths like addition of single digits. To our great surprise, he wrote the answers on his own and scored with flying colours even though he attempted K1 papers.  When Ah Pa came back with the news, Ah Po wasn’t surprised. She said that he already know maths when he’s negotiating with her whilst sharing the orange. Usually we don’t want them to eat too much as it promotes phlegm so Cayson negoti...

Ah Pa was not feeling well as he’s got food poisoning and seemed to be running a fever as a result.  Little Cayson was very sweet and asked Ah Pa in the morning if he’s feeling alright , before adding that “oh .. Ah Pa has Coronavirus!” While it’s probably not true, it’s quite an astute judgment from him at this young age, making that correlation.  ——- Ah Pa was trying to teach him the alphabets but this had been proving extremely challenging, especially for the letter “U” . Every time the finger lands on “U” , Cayson would burst into tears immediately despite having gone through many rounds already. At such point, I don’t know whether to laugh or cry as he genuinely was very upset. But thankfully, after many days of repetition, he’s finally got the hang of “U” and forgot a few others ... haha  ——- I like to tell the kids bedtime stories about my day. And because some of my days were quite crazy, it made great bedtime stories.  Hence, now Cayson would ask me “How’s m...

Cayson has very high sense of empathy. Recently, Cayen fell sick after first day of school (I wonder if he’s allergic to school??!) and this is what Cayson said. On first day when Cayen’s sick  Cayson: Are you ok Ah Yen ?  On second day when Cayen’s sick Cayson: (first thing in the morning) Are you feeling better Ah Yen ?  (Right after breakfast) Cayson: Can I have Vitagen? Ah Po: No, it’s too cold to take in the morning. Cayson: But I don’t have cough!  Me: Ah Yen is having cough. Must be he has had too much Vitagen.  Ah Po: Let’s not buy anymore. Cayson: Haha I buy already (he just bought from supermarket the previous night) ———- This bedtime ... while he reads his book, I start the new year with a new book too.  One hour later  Me: Let me share with you something that I have read. It offers you tips on how to persuade people effectively.  Cayen: So you mean I can ask you for Minecraft  Me: No, cox I have read the book, this doesn’t work on...

Went for the regular meet the parents session for Cayson and it was quite a breeze as usual. Teacher commented that he continued to 举一反三 (could extrapolate his learning from one thing to another) and hence, could pick up things very fast. If teacher mentioned carrot, he would start singing a related song that features carrot for example. He has a song for everything.  His chinese teacher claims his mandarin is the best in class as he could make sentences in mandarin (but his class is primarily foreigner I recall, haha)  On sharing, he’s also good. When his friend was on the tricycle he wanted, he waited patiently for his turn and also told his teacher explicitly that he’s waiting for his classmate to finish.  He’s able to independently prepare his mattress/bedding for nap and even bathe himself. He would always be the first to sleep and last to wake, and apparently can sleep through thunderstorm as well.  On food, he’s getting pickier but teacher recommended to respe...