Multiparenting Cayen & Cayson

Day 9 - Sun  Brought Cayen for his sports class and then for some Korean BBQ to take in more iron. We also let him try to cook his own meat for the first time. It's good fun for him. While variety is not huge, but for price of $24.90 per pax with 15% discount using DBS card for a buffet with decent meats, one could not complain much. Also, with $8 top up, one can opt for a collagen soup with different flavours too. Good for hungry people.  Went home thereafter and tried to keep everyone entertained at home. Baby seemed to have a bit of flu and so we started the onion in sock treatment again.   Ah Gong and Ah Po were asked to play chess with Cayen repeatedly - 输了还要继续玩. They also realised how Cayen kept winning them - he sneakily placed the chess pieces in such a way that he would devour them the moment they turned over the chess piece. While that's super sly and scheming , we were also amazed at how he thought of the idea himself at a grand age of 4.5 years old.  Anyw...

As his classmates speak mainly English and we have somehow read more English books during bedtime reading , Cayen's Chinese has deteriorated a lot. Hence, to rejuvenate his interest, we started to read a lot more Chinese books at night. 80% Chinese and 20% English.  Also, Ah Pa started to teach him how to play Chinese chess so now he needs to learn how to read the characters in order to play.  This is also a good game as it requires him to stop and think - very good to practise impulse control and strategic thinking. I think he really likes the game as he would initiate it as one of the games we can play after dinner and we have been playing a lot last week as I was not feeling well and it's a good quiet game to play.  Lastly, to encourage reading, I told him that Chinese also has sight words (actually I don't know for sure). So as I read Chinese books, I pause to let him identify the few commonly recurring words. I started with 了 ，as he's quite tickled that every page ...

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...

Recent reading incidents that surprised us in Dec 16 :  1. He read out the options on the menu:  Soup, spicy, dry  Fish soup  Water  2. In the cab: Don't leave your iPhone and wallet behind (I suspect he memorised it Cox it's Handphone, not iPhone)  Ride - Tap - Earn (after I told him months back)  3. Along the highway on CTE  C: are we going to Changi Airport ? Me: how do you know? C: it's there (points to the signboard)  4. Me: It's around 500+ C: oh, that's near 600.  (Didn't see that coming) Anyway, tips to encourage kids to read without flash cards.  - teach them signs and decals you can find in the taxi / car or road signs (you can keep them still too) - when waiting for meals, read menus. Find games to play like counting the number of symbols etc ("not available", chicken, vegetables, etc) - when doing night time reading, point to the words as you read , and invite them to join in the reading (I.e. read the bigger words or wo...

1. Tools : measuring tape Teach him inches and cm. Ask him to measure everything , from furniture to his grandfather's waist.  Time burn : 15-20min  Once he's tired of the above, turn the tape into a jump rope , ask him to jump/step over it or crawl under it.  Time burn : 10-15min (can lengthen by 10min if various adults participate too)  2. Tools: Empty coconut  After drinking the sweet juice from the  coconut, you can scrap out the flesh and use it for an ashtray (at least that's what my father was thinking of) or use it as a canvas for him to decorate. Time burn: 30 minutes because it's not so easy to scribble on a round and rough surface , especially when it's still wet .  3. Tools: Magnets  Just let him create whatever he wants.  Time burn: 30-40 minutes To increase time burn, ask him  to build different lego blocks on the magnets. Then simulate earthquake by shuffling the magnets (plates...

Recently he was into Millions. So whatever you ask him, instead of tens and hundreds, he would go into Millions. That day, we were just using numbers to teach him to read hundreds and thousands where he kept challenging us to go up to Millions, Billions and Zillions...  Then we decided that we should inform him about Infinity and about the calculator not quite working when the number is too big and he was super amused.

To wean him off, I introduced games with every feed. If he wins, then he gets a sip of milk. So here's 4 games I have introduced to date   1. Tracing alphabets and numbers game .. If he successfully traces one, he gets one sip. 2. Match the picture to the word ... If he gets it wrong, he gets one sip .  3. Cut papers. I gave him some useless mailers for him to cut out some shapes. One object one sip.  4. Today, I created a "volcano" with two egg trays. If he drinks a big sip, I build a tall volcano and he can get the chance to blow it down. If he drinks a small sip, I build a short volcano. This game is the most successful to date. He polished off 180ml in two sips. 

As usual, it was hard to get him to sleep. We were just talking and he suddenly started singing, C: row row row your boat , gently down the stream. If you see a crocodile, don't forget to snap. C: row row row your boat , gently down the stream. If you see a lion, don't forget to roar. Me: Haha, who taught you ?  C: I taught myself  Me: what if you see a rabbit? C: row row row your boat , gently down the stream. If you see a rabbit, don't forget to hop. Not sure if it's original but the lyrics are quite funny... Haha. Anyway, it's amazing what kids can do with a mandarin orange box .. Once again, I'm convinced the best toys are the ones that can be recreated into anything ..

Cayen cannot sit still during mealtimes. So earlier on, I have posted some tips on using busy bags with lego & colouring books etc. However, there will be some days where we forgot about it or didn't want to bring so many things out. Hence, here are some other tips to keep them entertained for up to 1 hour at the table without iPhones. 1. At Jap restaurants, teach them how to "pop" the Edamame   When he accidentally dropped it, he "blew" it clean .. 2. If going to coffeeshops, bring a bag of their favourite fruits that requires peeling. In this case, we brought Buah Duku (locally pronounced as Baluku). Be prepared a little bit of mess if fruit is very juicy. 3. Playing a counting game For instance, count the number of fans, lanterns, fishes, No Smoking signs, Exit signs, bowls, tables etc. Just keep counting until some food comes. 4. Eating the peanuts In Chinese restaurants, there's usually a plate of peanuts , braised or the usua...

It's strange. They want to walk when they can only crawl but once they can walk, they want to be carried.  So to try to encourage him to walk on his own, I resorted to creating games on walking on certain coloured tiles or walking on the lines of the pavement so that he would walk voluntarily.  Millenia Walk is a good place to kick start the series of games as they have nice black and white tiles and not so much human traffic. So some variations are: - let's walk on the black tiles - let's walk on the White tiles - let's hop on the black tiles etc - let's cross the bridge (when you see a strip of a different colour) - let's run up or down the slope (when theres's slopes ..  So far, this has helped to increase his willingness to walk. Let's hope he can keep it up.  http://youtu.be/iLDSZVKJzsI

Every Saturday and Sunday , we always have the perennial questions "What's for lunch ? What's for dinner?" Then as usual, everyone would want to suggest the same old places and I would veto and try to suggest somewhere new. So this week, i suggested to go walk around the newly refurbished Capitol Theatre to explore the new eateries there at Capitol Piazza.  Given that our family is looking for Asian food, we soon wandered into Palette which appeared to be a new concept foodcourt.  We went into the fairly empty place (heard they only opened two weeks ago) and saw a handful of stalls. There's service staff just like a restaurant, and order taking was via iPads. So the concept was foodcourt setting, with service and high tech order taking. Hence, expect prices higher than food court but if you are there with kids, it's a more hassle free experience as you could order at your seat and food would be served to you. And child seats are available.  Th...

Dining out with kids can be a real hassle and for a long time we went for the easy way out of giving him the iPhone. Nowadays , I decided to get more creative. Hence, this is my Doremon bag of tricks. I try to keep it light so usually I will take 1-2 of these combi. 1) interactive games like matching games 2) lego ( I will bring the mini ones)  3) book for tracing ABC 4) sticker books  5) crayons and paper (there's a little risk of making a little mess) 

In the last 19 months, I have come to realise that there are very little toys that can be relevant to a toddler for long. The ironic thing is that the ones that can attract the baby's attention for the longest time in a session and over a period of time tends to be the most unexpected .. And often the cheapest options: 1. IKEA stool When upright like this , it can serve initially as a table when toddler is and also as a seat when he's able to walk. When flip upside down, it serves as a great support tool for the baby who's just learning to walk. It's much sturdier than most toys in the market (as it doesn't have wheels so it doesn't glide too fast) and it's hard to topple when the centre of gravity is on the floor. I have three walkers/ pushcart of sorts, this is his favourite. 2. Plastic cups, spoons , containers, bottles (empty of course) He loves stacking them up, putting and transferring things using these, and pretending to feed hims...

Today Cayen was naughty and wanted to play with the cat litter. Grandma slapped him one of his legs to dissuade him , he didn't cry. He promptly volunteered his other leg for slapping as well. Not sure whether to laugh or cry but this is one thick skinned boy. At night, I was told he knew that Lee Qi Da is Ah Pa and Lim Shock Chin is Ah Mama (after being told by Grandma this morning. And before we knew it, he was matching names to name cards . This fellow sure starts networking young! P.s. not sure where he learnt that laughter from ...  

Wish I were here ..  "Ah Pa, 抱抱, up, bye bye " after he had enough of the games at United Square baby gym ..  That night , he surprised us with an accurate pronunciation of Out, close pronunciation of Apple and somewhat abstract Please. The things he would do for food/drinks .. In this case, motivation is Apple juice .