More about Jesslyn... opps

We have always been entertained by Jesslyn's mischievous answers. She is a language person. Her PR is also very good. She has a way in avoiding reprimands and beatings by looking at you sweetly, hands clasped at her chest with her head tilted slightly and darting eyes. Sometimes, she grins so hard that her eyes become a line only.
She is also an expert in avoiding working on her books. To buy time, she'll ask me numerous questions (to confirm the answer) before she draws on the paper. For example, "Mummy, is it like this? Mummy, I draw here? I use this pencil?" I must say that I am bias for not being tough on her as I would be on Jerilyn for wasting time. Normally, she would say that the exercise is difficult. One day, she completed a maze within seconds and said "Mummy, you see? This is easy." However, I did not tell her that she got it wrong. Look at the far right. At first, she used a pencil. Then, a red marker.

She does not like her sister to touch her stuff. This includes her Sesame Street schoolbag. One day, she scolded her sister " Wei... wei....wei(in Chinese)... don't spoil my school bag.... Always spoil my school bag." and snatched the bag away. Same goes with many other things, the moment her sister holds an item, she snatches it and claims "I want to use it."

A mini fun-fair has been set-up recently near my in-laws place. Upon seeing it, she said "Wow! Look at the merry-go-round. It is so big. I want to go to the playground." I told her "It's fun-fair, not playground." She replied immediately "I THOUGHT it's playground?" I was surprised she knows this bold word. Other than that, she used 'actually' as in "ACTUALLY, I want that. " when I asked her "Do you want this?"

I don't think attending school next year would be a problem for her as she loves to send Jerilyn to school every morning. Leaving her in the car means tantrums from her. She loves to see the teachers; calling them and waving at them. One day, she said to her Jie2 "Be careful" at the school gate and turned around. How touching! I swear I have never said that to Jerilyn before while sending her to school.

She adds SILLY to reprimand anyone for doing the 'wrong' thing. For example, "Daddy didn't take this, silly boy." "Mummy, you silly girl. You ...." "Why you turn here? You silly boy."(Daddy used another route instead of the usual route.

In addition to her list of cheeky answers, she knows 'Sam Chi Keng' (something to do with Chinese proverbs), and a few 'adult' songs. The songs are: You are my Sunshine and Sealed with a Kiss. She only needs to listen to a song or anything melodious a few times and 'snap', she can sing. She is the one who corrects Jerilyn singing.
The video below shows her ability to read multiplication(x2) in Mandarin.


The picture below is her work. When she uses the pencil, the lead easily breaks. I do not allow her to use the 'magic colour' because she will end up pushing the sticks in. 2 unusable magic colours is too much for me! As you can see from the left picture below, she is quite detailed when colouring. She chooses the spots to colour. Unlike Jerilyn who just sweeps the colours across the pictures. Moreover, she has better control as she doesn't colour out of line as badly as Jerilyn.

Jesslyn on the Piano

Although Jesslyn cannot play any music piece, but I see potential in her. First of all, her feminine, good look gives me the 'I am a musician' impression. Excuse me for being superficial. Secondly, she has quite good control of her fingers when she taps on the keys. She can press from one key to another with her thumb, up to the fourth finger without overlapping. Thus, the clear, distinct sounds. She is only 2+ years old.

Jerilyn too has the potential as she knows how to improvise. The Happy Birthday piece I downloaded begins with G note. However, after I removed the letters on the keys, she started playing her own way. She uses C note. Very creative.

Graffiti

Guess where this was drawn on?

TA-DA!!I was shocked to see that when I stepped into the house. But, surprisingly, I didn't scold them. In fact, I was quite pleased with the drawing. It decorates the otherwise dull, empty wall. I was surprised how Jerilyn could draw such a big picture. As you can see below, the picture is so much higher than her. And the details, how long did it take her to draw it? Where was my dad when she drew? What was he doing? Did he scold? These were the questions running in my head.

I asked her 2 questions:

1. Where was Gong2? She pointed to the couch. My dad must be engrossed in a drama while she was at her mischief.

2. Why did she drew it? She answered "BEcause I want to make the wall pretty."

Filial Girl

Jerilyn has always been a filial girl when it comes to respecting the oldies. Much so after my mum's incident.
For instance, recently, my dad's blood pressure shot up because of the stress from baby-sitting the kids. I told her that if she continues to be naughty, Gong2 won't take care of her. Her eyes were red when I said that. Since then, she has been 'less naughty'. She also told me that she is good and hasn't made Gong2 sick lately.
Because of this too, I have requested my in-law to take care of the kids once a week so that my dad can take more rest. Other than that, Hubby and I have taken turns to apply leave from work more often. Actually, hubs company is experiencing a slowdown in business, thus, the forced leave. Anyway, it's a blessing in disguise. So, one day, while my dad was driving her to her grandma's place, she asked "where is Mei2?" When she knew that her sister was already in the grandma's place, she didn't want to go. My dad was curious why. She explained "Ah Mar is old. She cannot take care of two kids." Dad was surprised. So was I. I thought, if my late mother knows how filial her grand-daughter is, she would surely be very pleased.
'Til now, my mum is still very much alive in my household. The kids often talk and sing about her. Birthday songs are dedicated to her, gifts are often said to be presented to her etc...
Last week, she asked again "Why do you cry Mummy? Why do you always cry-Po2, Po2?.... I also always think about Po2 but I don't cry..... Dont cry Mummy. Po2 is not happy if you cry."
I had given a journal topic to my students, which I myself wish it happens "If I could turn back time..."

Threats

My girls are beginning to threaten me if I do not do as they say. For instance,
1. Jerilyn wanted to play with something but I did not allow. This was what she said "Don't play... don't play. Next time, I don't want to give you ang pow." I assume that she won't give me any 'allowance' when I am old and frail.
2. they wanted to use the tub for bathing which I did not allow. Jesslyn said "Next time, you don't swimming(bathe) me. I don't want you to swim me. I want Daddy swimming me." I was more than happy to hear that. haha.... However, hubs was still in the office. So, they were forced to bathe with me.

This morning, Jerilyn looked dull so I tried to lighten the mood "Hello, pretty." Her answer "Hello, ugly woo..man." Not angry.

New Song

Jerilyn's first song.


After playing the same song for two weeks, I have tried to introduce a new song to Jerilyn - Rain, rain, Go Away.

After struggling for a few times, she went back to Happy Birthday because that's the song she can play. She boasted that she does not need the notes anymore. It's amazing how interest can motivate her so much to play it by heart. Yes, she can play the song by just looking at the keys with 1 or 2 wrong keys.

So, we turned back and forth between the two songs. I tried to teach her fingering and reading notes. When she could not use the right finger, I started to raise my voice and when I did, she began to shut off from me. Looking down, not listening, no response.... I knew that we(to be exact, I) had to stop. So, the 2 of us sat quietly for a moment. After 1 minute, I encouraged her to try again. She did.

I was wondering why she had to use finger 1 and 5 (she should use 5th and then 4th)to move from G to F notes. The most possible answer is that she could only coordinate her fingers this way. Thus, I told myself to let her use any fingers at the moment. I reminded myself that she is only 4. Therefore, I only taught her how to read notes. Not bad for the first day, she knows and remembers which are F and D notes. She is able to memorise 40% of the song too. i think she prefers to memorise playing than to learn reading the notes. Whichever way, I am happy she is playing.

Bossy

I was busy googling when this caught my attention:
"Jie2, I said thank you to you." After a while, she repeated again. This time louder. The same sentence was repeated 4 times and each time, it was louder and more firm. I could not take it 'til I had to call out to Jerilyn "She is talking to you." to which Jerilyn said softly "Ok Mei2." Jesslyn was not satisfied with the answer "Jie2, I said thank you to you." This time, Jerilyn too raised her voice and that shut Mei2 up.

This is Jesslyn. The loudest, firmest person in the family. I am not sure if I have jotted this down but when
1. she was on the phone with Daddy and she could not hear him, she put up her index finger over her mouth "SHHH... SHHH... SHHHH.... I cannot hear.", walking around as if she was having a million dollar business conversation. Sometimes, she complains about either one of us not letting her take the call.
2. I asked her not to take out all the books from the drawer. She replied angrily "I just want to see."
3. I asked both of them to keep their toys before we went out for dinner. Jesslyn ordered her sister after a while "Jie2, you keep. Quickly before Mummy beat you. There, another one. Quickly." Jerilyn did not utter a word while frantically put everything in a bucket. All she wanted was to go out.

Little Mozart

Last week, I took Jerilyn for a haircut. While waiting for the busy hair-dresser, I went next door to check out the music academy. The first impression put me off. I rang the bell twice and an unwelcoming lady greeted me with "Mut Yea Xi". I felt like a salesgirl all of a sudden. Anyway, we went in, asked about piano lessons etc. She said as Jerilyn is only 4yo, she has to start with Little Mozart. The books looked easy yet complicated. I asked if she could start with classical music instead. 'No' was the answer. This made me even more uneasy with her. Most importantly, I just do not like her, thus I do not like whatever she said.

We left, determined not to take any music lessons from this academy. From then, I was also determined to teach Jerilyn to play a piece. :p Thanks to the teacher, my kid is playing her first song after 2 weeks of practice. I want to prove that she is wrong. Kids at 4 can play. Some argued that the basic knowledge of fingering and keys are important and one should start with that. They may be right but without the interest, it will take double the time to learn that. Therefore, I started my kid with a song she is familiar with.

Initially, I only gave her one of my old books and never bothered to really show her how to play - which key, which finger. Then, I realised without a purpose, she would not learn. Now, she has a purpose to play ie that is to play for her Ah Yee and grandma.

This will make fingering lessons easier. Gambateh!

1st song

I had tried introducing piano to Jerilyn for quite some time but there was not much progress until recently.

I got the idea of writing the notes on the keys after watching a friend's video in FB. After 2 weeks, this is what Jerilyn can play.

I am quite satisfied with her progress although the timing is not accurate. The very next day after this recording. she practised on playing without reading the notes.

She is very motivated to learn this song after I told her that her Ah Yee's birthday is fast approaching and she can play the song to her. (Hope Daddy is not offended as his birthday is half a month sooner than Ah Yee's). Other than that, she is more than happy to play for her grandma. At first, she complained that the piano is too big and heavy to bring to her Ah Ma's house to which I replied that we could record it down instead. Thus, working hard on the keyboard since last week.

Enjoy the not-so-perfect song.

2nd Chance

Can you see the cross? Jerilyn was marked wrong for 'wrong' match for BM paper. There is an extra line from the picture yoyo to the ball.
As a lecturer, I might have done the same to teach the student a lesson so that they would be more careful in their test. But, as a mother, I felt that I have to fight for my kid's interest. More importantly, she got the answer - drawing a line from the picture to the word. If the line was from 1 picture to 2 words or 2 pictures to a word, it's wrong. In this case, it's just a picture to another.
Hubby told me to let it be. If I were to let it be, I don't think I can sleep for nights. So, I wrote a note to the teacher. After two days, the teacher returns the paper with the amendment. No more complaints.

First Assessment

Jerilyn had her first assessment a month ago and I have been anxious with her results. Below are her results:
Bahasa Malaysia 96%(100% after amendment)
English 96%
Mandarin 100% (this is questionable)
Mathematics 96%
Science 100%
Moral 100%

When she showed me her first paper, which was the Science paper, I was overwhelmed with delight. Although I expected her to do well in all her subjects but seeing the red '100' on a test paper has a magical effect on not only me I believe but on all parents.

I have a feeling I am going to be one of those 'kiasu' Malaysians even though I do not wish to be like them. I do not want to compare who scores higher marks, who has more 'A's, who is in the 'smart' class and who is not and who is number 1 in the class. Competition is good only if parents do not demoralise any kids. There are parents who compare and condemn their own children for not doing as well as the cousin or friend.

Ops... there I go again judging other parents.