Julian turns 4!

This is a post 3 months overdue!!!

Julian turns 4 on 11th July!

Now at 4…

A smiley cheeky boy with never ending stories to share.

A thoughtful boy who will say Hello to a mentally disabled neighbour whenever he meets him… occasionally offer a quiet time for me when I am tired and cranky… play peek a boo with Jeanne when we walk home from bus stop.

A quick brain full of ideas to solve the little big problems he meets up with all the time.

Every year, we see so much growth in him. I wonder what the new year will bring for him…

Memories of 4 years old birthday…

Instead of baking a cake this year, we bought 3 Sara Lee Chocolate pound cake and decorated it for celebration at school.

Daddy and Ju decorating together, while Jeanne happily eating her Pocky sticks for the first time.

Ju happy with his cake…

Celebration at school! The kids at school never fail to come to Jeanne when she arrives at school.

A birthday song for Ju… This year, Ju is appreciating the song more. He is beginning to know what it means to be the centre attraction.

The Montessori Birthday Walk…

At home, Opening present time! Transformers (Side Swipe)… This year he had 3 request… Nerf gun, Transformer and Bakugan. All are “forbidden toys” in our eyes. In the end, we bought Transformer for him seeing it as a toy that needs construction skills.

Celebration at Ah ma’s home…

A CD made of chocolate from Jiu Jiu!

Celebration at Nai Nai’s home…

Ju opening present by Shu shu… A Woody and Buzzlight Year construction Set!

Celebration at Godparent’s home…

Our 4 lovely Kids…

Family Meeting

This is the second time we are having a family meeting. The first one was initiated by John and I. This time it was initiated by Ju. He chairs the meeting and he takes the minutes.

The question that Ju posted for all of us are “What do you want to change?”

Minutes interpreted:

1. Mummy cannot walk out of seat when eating.

2. Jeanne cannot suck her fingers.

3. Daddy will cut down on grumbling.

4. Ju Ju cannot talk when eating.

Ju said at this point : Cannot this! Cannot that! Cannot cannot cannot!

Me: ok ok, Let’s say what we can do.

1. Daddy and mummy must bring umbrella to school for Ju when it is raining.

2. Ju Ju can talk after he finish his food.

b is for “smile”

Ju can really make me laugh in the midst of the tiredness!

I was busy preparing the room for sleep while Ju was playing with Jeanne on the bed. Then he yelled repeatedly, “Mummy see! Letter B! ”

“People”

Yesterday evening,  we attended our Godson, Isaiah’s full month celebration at Cindy & Damon’s home. Ju and Clare had a really great time playing with Damon’s transformers! Hope they did not dislocate any limbs of Godpa’s collections.. hee

When we return home, Ju took a paper and pen and told me he knows hoe to draw “people”.

Then he goes… “A big body, a head, eyes, nose, and a mouth and legs!”

Me: Where are the hands?

Ju added two lines to show the hands. Then he happily brought it to show John.

We were surprised and impressed with his achievement! Haha! This is the first time he draw a “people” that looks like a “people”!

I look forward to more drawings!

Coffee Session at School (2)

Quote from book “Maria Montessori : Her Life and Her Work”

” Montessori method is based fairly and squarely on the spontaneous activity of the intellect.

It was usually taken for granted that it was not natural for children to work for any length of time without the stimulus of some extraneous motive. They would play continuously for long periods, but work – no! An important part of the teacher’s art, therefore, consisted in knowing how to keep their attention fixed on the matter in hand – sugaring the pills in various ways, which included the use of rewards and punishments.

Montessori’s view of the matter is quite different. If children do not reveal a desire to work spontaneously, the fault lies not in the children but in the manner of presenting the subjects to be studied. She believes that if children are bored, inattentive, uncomprehending, it is because the methods of teaching used present insuperable barriers to the “spontaneous” functioning of the child’s mind.”

Following my blog post last week on “Coffee Session at School” I had been trying to figure out why Julian does not seem to be very interested in learning alphabets and sounds in school and home.

When I was reading this book, the quote is an answer to me. It brought me to see things from another perspective. Not him, but me… Nagging at him to sit still, scolding him to pay attention is going to bring his interest even further away. Can’t expect him to pay attention with no interest too…

Next step… BE POSITIVE!

Hmm.. and explore new ways to bring the subject to him…

Coffee Session at School

Today there was a coffee session with Ju’s teachers and other parents in school.

A few parents came and approach us and ask is Julian our son. They all said Julian is like the mascot of the school. Whenever they see him, he is always smiling or laughing, and will greet them with good mornings and bye byes… I did not really know how to react to that feedback so I just said, “Oh yes. He is indeed a happy boy and he really loves talking!”

Later on, we got to speak to Ju’s teacher who is in charge of teaching him sounds and numbers. She feedback that she finds it a challenge to work with Ju whenever she needs him to sit and concentrate for sounds. He would always be fidgeting, making noise, talking, tapping things…. At times she would be firm with him and have to use the ultimatum to get his concentration back, that is saying “Ok. If you don’t want to learn, I am not going to waste my time.” Then, Ju will guai guai sit down and concentrate for a good 2 mins!

This is what we experience at home too, and we used the ultimatum quite often too… not a good sign though… Teacher ask us to play silence game with him more consistently at home starting with short duration of time and slowly increasing it.

Hopefully in this one week school holiday, we will be able to work with him to appreciate silence more…

Sometimes I really wonder where his energies come from. I appreciate him being a happy, confident and vocal child, but many times I doubt is this hyperness in him too much… and will he feel miserable from me trying to suppress him from what he wants to do or say…

I am not Ju Ju, I am Kor Kor!

Julian seems to be very happy with his new companion and proud with his new status. He would often tell us ” I am not Ju Ju, I am kor kor!” or “I am a good big brother!”

These are the precious moments we had managed to capture so far…

Crying on his tummy early in the morning, a forgiving brother.

Chose a toy for her taking care that it is not something small and sharp…

SHe don’t know to hold the toy yet so he turned to talk to her instead.

Talk, talk, talk…

Lying down looking at her face…

Holding her hand…

He thinks mei mei is sick…

Bathing her together with daddy…

Learning to swaddle her, his way…

Soaking with her…

She looking at him…

Nap together…

His favourite is placing her lie on his lap…

Eensy Winsy Spider…

Her head keeps “falling”…

She is very heavy!

Baby’s new name… by kor kor

Last nite at bedtime…

Me : Ju, what is daddy’s name?

Ju : John.

Me : What is mummy’s name?

Ju : Joan.

Me : What is baby’s name?

Ju : Jagabee! (followed by a loud laugh from 3 of us)

Sun and Spiders

Over the month, Ju had been highly interested in working with pens and papers… Espcially circular mazes or drawings. Sometimes he would scribble zig zag lines and say he is writing numbers and words. It is interesting to see how he progresses in his “writings”

On Thursday night at my in law’s place, he took Nai Nai’s notepad and asked me to draw a thunder to show him. When he took over the pen from me, he begun to draw a circle with lines around it and say “I draw a sun.”

When I saw it. I go “WOW!” This is the first time he is drawing something legible to us and thereafter he practiced and drew another 2 more suns.

   

Yesterday afternoon, Ju asked John’s brother, Noel for some papers for him to draw. He then drew this for Noel. He said “I draw a spider for Shu Shu.”

It’s amazing to see the additional 2 dots that he added in. Noel say it looks like Ka Zua (cockroach)! haha! 

Julian turns 3!

Julian’s birthday is on Saturday, but the celebration in school will be on Friday. I asked his teachers for suggestions of cakes and they suggested a home bake cake will be what the kids like best. So, John and I decided that will be it.. bake a simple sponge cake!

On Thursday evening, Ju and I worked together to bake the cake so that when John is back, we can all decorate the cake together..

Ju did most of the preparation while i did mainly the measurements for him..

   

Just when the mixture were all ready for mixing, Ju accidentally knocked the pot of mixture and….. This mixture cannot be used anymore..

 

Sad Ju…

 

We went to Phoon Huat to meet daddy to get more butter and sugar, then went back home. John and I waited for Ju to sleep which was about midnight then we did it on our own… till 3am…

 

Despite the baking through tired eyes.. we were very satisfied with our gift for Ju…

 

Friday, brought the cake to school… Ju looked surprised and happy to see the cake…

 

Preparing his own candles

  

Singing a birthday song, blowing candles, cutting cake.. He was still not sure what a wish is about..

  

As usual, Ju was engrossed in cutting the cake and not interested about taking a picture..

 

Yummy! Ju had 2 pieces of it.. It was the first time we saw him asking for more cakes..

 

Haha! The teachers were right.. the kids loved home bake cakes.. It was our first time seeing our home baked cake finished in minutes and the kids were asking for second and even third servings.. We tried abit of Ju’s share, it does not taste like sponge cake as it was meant to be but more like brownie.. hard and sweet..

 

Back home, our gift for Ju.. a tricycle! Ju said many times of “Thank you daddy mummy for giving me the bicycle” through the day..

 

Happy 3rd birthday Ju!