Teaching Values

Sometimes I feel that I am a lousy teacher, esp to my kids. When I teach, I expected Jerilyn to be obedient and do as I say. But my daughter being perverse and restless, she just wont sit and read. After reading with me for 2 minutes, she says "Mummy, you read." and she walks away. If she gets bored of drawing or playing, she says "Mummy, you draw/play." Yesterday, I was clicking on the mouse as the video ran and she said "Mummy, dont press, I beat you." I always believe that 'It's not easy to teach good values but the bad ones, you dont have to repeat twice.' esp with my type of daughter. This is why I still dont plan to send her to nursery unless forced to.
On the bright side, she is very inventive and imaginative. She now uses things like bedsheet, coasters as skateboard. She likes to play 'pretend' too. She puts pillows and blanket around her and pretend to drive. She even asks us to sit behind her as passengers. Another 'pretend' game she likes is cooking, which many children have the same hobby. If she isnt cooking, she just imagines that she is holding something in her hand for instance chocolate, flower or butterfly and pass it to us.
In relation to insects, she acts frightened when she sees 1 on the floor and shrieks and jumps. But she then picks it up to show us, which we tell her to throw away. Hope she will grow to love books later. Not that she doesnt look at them at all, it's just that when I try to teach seriously, she shuts her ears. She does 'read' them and often asks "Who(What)'s that?"

Genting Trip

My initial plan was to go with my parents but as my mum was not well, we had to leave them behind.
The trip this time was full of activities yet more relaxing as we spent 3 days on the cool mountain. Talking about cool, I didnt expect the weather to be cold thus I only brought thin clothings for the kids. It turned out to be quite chilly and Jesslyn had to wear her pyjamas on top of her normal clothing. Normally, I would have brought thick clothes but they were seldom worn.
We had a voucher which entitled us to a Free Kid ticket(worth RM35) toTheme Park. The catch is: with purchase of an Adult ticket(RM55) to the Theme Park. So, we bought 1 Adult ticket only. However, where's the fun when Jesslyn and Daddy are left behind. I didnt want to wave from the Ferris wheel or the gondola. I wanted the whole family to be involved. We later bought another ticket(RM25-Indoor only). After getting bored with Indoor games, we went outdoor. I persuaded my husband to try his luck, passing the security with his Indoor only wristband. Jerilyn and I went in first. I watched and prayed that he could pass. I actually doubted the possibility as when I went in, the guard made sure that it was written All on my wristband. As he took his turn, there were a bunch of teenagers scrambling through the gate and VOILA!!! They made it. The guard only checked that there was a band but didnt see that it was written Indoor, not All.
The games that we attempted were less interesting for 2 reasons: 1. The kids are too young 2. Daddy and I are too old. Nevertheless, it was enough for the kids to doze off the moment they hit the bed. Daddy concluded that the money spent was worth it when Jerilyn rode for more than 10 times on the vehicles. She remained in the ring and merely changed from 1 vehicle to another. We let her played as much as she could because these rides will last her 1-2 years before we are willing to spare money on rides. By then, we have to buy tickets for 2 kids.

Proud Moments

September 28
Proud moments
Every parent is proud of their children no matter how small and insignificant the kids' achievements are. I am no different.
At 9.5 months, these are the things that Jesslyn make us proud:
1. She bangs the room door if she wants out.
2. She imitates sounds from us or television. One of her favourite is the Raya song where she sings "Yaaa......".
3. She is jealous if I carry Jie2 and will cry til I carry her. When I pass Jie2 to Daddy and put her on my lap, she will call out to Jie2 "Dah, Dah" to show victory.
4. She climbs full flight of stairs and at every corner, she takes a break, grins and gives herself a victorious clap. The maid made a comment which I didnt noticed myself, ie if she needs to sit, she will turn her body so that her body is supported and she faces out.
5. She dances to music. [Look at the video].
6. When she is too short, she tip-toes to reach her target. For instance, she loves to play with the volume knob of our hifi. When she is too tall, she lowers her body to the ground to peek under the sofa or bed.
7. She says "Wah" at everything. Jerilyn only says "Wah" when she sees food on the table, which makes her grandmothers very happy.
8. She can walk with support.
9. She loves to read and write (as compared to Jerilyn)
10. It still overwhelms me to have a kid who needs Me more than anything else in the world. She is very manja. Whether happy or sad, frightened or calm, she will come to me. She likes to rub her head against something(our shoulders or the mattress. One day, I was scolding Jerilyn (very loudly) and I noticed that each time I raised my voice, she puts her head on my lap and rub, rub, rub. Imagine a dog rubbing his head on his master's lap. There was another time she laid low with her head against the mattress. Imagine a soldier lying low on the ground when in danger. She can be playing and all of a sudden, drop her head on the bed as if seeking comfort. Jesslyn's not a timid girl but she is 1 who loves to be loved openly and protected.

At 2y8m old, below ar the things I would like to jot down about Jerilyn:
1. Jerilyn can sing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, Baa Baa Black Sheep and ABC. [Well, not every word but ... pls refer to the beginning of this blog]
2. She can speak more but many 'ar's at the end of the sentences. "Dont play ar?", talking to her sis.
3. Her favourite word now is "Dragon." When she plays pretend driver/pilot, she only sees Dragon in the sky or on the road.
4. Memorable quotes:
a. "Mummy very tired? Mummy sleep first." followed by closing of the bedroom door.
b. "You still want chocolate?" which actually means I still want chocolate.
c. "Give me something" Something refers to food.
d. When I made a mistake, she goes "Hiya you." Only yesterday, I accidentally banged the door, she said "Shh.... Mei2 is sleeping. Hiya you."
5. She used to draw big circles and scribbled all over the page but now, her scribbles are as small as worms. Yet, she insists those are dragons.

I am sure you have seen/heard of siblings squabbling over trivial issues. Well, this nightmare has started to take place in my house. When 1 is occupying a toy, the other surely wants a share of it. Both would be screaming at each other. As Jesslyn cant speak, she only cries. Jerilyn says "Mei2, dont play.", "Mummy, Mei2 is playing.", "Mei2, bu yao wan.", "Mei2, go away." Naturally, I am like most parents who ask the elder to give in.

Climbing

Jesslyn can now climb the stairs. Not the full flight but a few steps. The first time I saw her climbing was when she was exactly 9 months. I thought she could only climb 1 step so I was kinda relaxed, standing at the bottom. However, she didnt stop at 1st step. She continued climbing until she reached the 4th step. That's when she stopped and looked behind for support. Could she be tired? Or was she afraid of the height? Or did she think that it's enough for the day?
I dont know what is so attractive about the stairs. She loves to climb(or try to) on it. She will stop when I told her not to. Does she understand?
She can now understand words like 'Bye2', 'clap hands'. By merely mentioning these words made her waving her hands(or clapping her hands) violently.

The past week had been a disaster with 1 bad news and too much of things to worry and do. Hope the bad clouds have passed and the sky will turn brighter... much brighter. Have to go back to marking papers before the kids get up.

A Trip to the Zoo

As Jerilyn has always loved animals, we took the opportunity to take her to Taiping Zoo during the National Day holiday. What I mean by love is: If you ask her questions, her reply is "Dragon". Out of nothing, she will say "Dinasour" or "Monkey" or "Elephant". She just loves to utter these words.
So, the journey took 1.5hours. We started off with a train ride round the zoo and later ventured on our own. Jerilyn's favourite was the elephant. "Look, elephant. Elephant. Daddy, come here." She didnt have enough of them until we told her that we would go back to look at them. I dont expect much from our Malaysian zoos but I am sad for the pathetic looking animals. They looked so weak and abandoned. The only beautiful creature I saw was the swans. Most of the animals were motionless and hid from the public. If you dont search, you may miss some of the animals. At most spots, Jerilyn went "Look, giraffe." "Look, monkey." She was a noisy kid there.
While Jerilyn was excited seeing real life animals, Jesslyn sat happily in the pram. Daddy and I were actually quite surprised with her willingness to sit in it. It was the FIRST time she sat in that pram for more than 5 minutes(I am not kidding). My initial plan was to let Jerilyn sit in case she gets tired of walking.
We ended our venture about 40 minutes later when it started to drizzle. Moreover, the 2 were beginning to get restless.
In conclusion, it was a worthwhile trip for the kids but drastic measures have to be taken to improve and maintain the popularity of the zoo. One of the ways is to bring your kids to the zoo!

Is she Reading?

September 01
Is she reading?

I came across some educational videos(nursery rhymes, alphabet and numbers) in youtube a month back and I exposed Jerilyn to these videos since then. With access to these short, interesting videos, she doesnt watch much DVDs anymore. She used to watch about an hour of Barney everyday in our home but nowadays, she only watches an hour a week. However, this doesnt include the hours she spends on tv at my parents' house. Thanks to internet videos, I saved RM20 on electricity bill last month. Apparently, the home theatre consumes a lot of electricity. Morever, she only spends half an hour watch internet video everyday.
The video attached shows that she can read (it's actually memorising) the slides. Nevertheless, since watching these videos/slides, she is more receptive of alphabet and numbers. She has better memory too. For eg,She remembers that King Kong died in a movie and repeated it to me more than a week after watching it. I was telling her that the flower was gone because it dies and she said "Gorilla die". At first, it puzzled me why of all the animals - gorilla. It's also easier to teach her. Without much effort, she remembers who is the President of America, PM of Malaysia, recognises the M'sian and Perak flag etc..
My mum however, has only 1 comment: She will get bored in school if you teach her too much.