Phonics: We Made A Coconut Tree

He made me do it!

Literally.

For real.

I present to you our very own Chicka Chicka Boom Boom coconut tree.

 

He still smiles by squinting.
This picture is also the reason why Tiger will never be a model.
Unless China is looking for a Welcome to China face.
Then, please, call me.



His dance moves are not for the faint-hearted. 

Review: Leapfrog Learning DVDs

We are HUGE fans of Leapfrog toys. 

Initially I listed out the Leapfrog toys that we have but it made me look like such a shopaholic. Let's just say we have a few and we love each and everyone of them.

Anyway, the important issue is the fact that the one Leapfrog product that I really wanted to get my hands on was the Learning DVD set. They have been raved to death by parents everywhere, including those from kiasuparents.com. If the Singaporeans claim it's good, you better believe them!

We have Let's Go To School, Numbers Ahoy and Math Adventure to the Moon from ToyRus but  the box set has eluded me for the longest time until I thought of a member of the family. She graciously loaned it to us and it's high time I return them since Tiger is totally in love with them. Grandma is not helping by giving him a free rein over his TV time.

They are pricey if we poor under-developed, third world country people are to buy from Amazon or Singapore. During our last excursion to Popular in Ikano, I saw some Scout and friends series (Phonics Farm & Number Land) and  as well as the ones I have listed above.

It is really worth the splurge for the box set?

For Tiger, these are the only 'cartoons' that he watches. So, my alphabet junkie definitely enjoyed getting his daily dose of alphabet-high. Despite the fact that he is already well versed with his phonics, he is addicted to the Letter Factory. From all the testimonials of blogger moms, this definitely seemed like one of the better phonics DVD set.

Of course, I would rather he obsess over the frogs and phonics compared to Oppa Gangnam Style, no?

Speaking of DVDs, I am awaiting the arrival of my Shichida DVD. Will post more info once I get my hands on it.

Do you have a well loved educational DVD to share? Do give me your feedback if you have tried Hooked on Phonics or the Scholastic Series. Thanks!

Tot School: 29 Months

When I typed 29 months, I realised it has been 20 months since we started

our early education journey.

*pat own shoulder*

I am still enjoying being the busy teacher mama.

Tiger is still the ever happy learner.

So far, his cognitive abilities includes:

Knows all 26 alphabets and their hard phonic sounds

Reads simple words

Counts to 100s (Counting to 20 was the hardest hurdle)

Able to quantify objects

 {I kept saying, don't count, use your camera eyes. Nope, he still counts}

Of course, there are children who can do a lot more.

Bear in mind we only do 'learning' an hour a day, 3-4 times a week

Sleep and nap takes 11 hours.

The other 12 hours, he indulges himself with the Ipad, 

TV (sigh, those damn frogs, I'll explain later) and toys,

bugging grandma, disturbing his lil sister or bullying the maid.

Typical busy 2 year old :)

Another benefit of 'school' is time-out for Grandma.

Recently, she has been telling Tiger to go study.

Haha, my lil chatterbox is driving her nuts.

These are some of our activities for the past 2 weeks.

Language

Spelling

Our cheapo version of movable alphabet :)
There are some pictures chips of cat, dog, tree, etc.

 So, I ask him to choose the ones he wants me to spell out.

Playing with alphabets made him think of his book and stickers

Reading.

He still enjoys the Brillkids books, especially Going Places

Pre-writing/Tracing

I saw this fun tracing idea on Pinterest.

Nope. Didn't work.

Logic thinking/puzzles

Unifix puzzles

Fine motor

Pin rolling playdough.

I moved the dough stuff to his playroom since he wanted to play with it daily

Geography
He showed interest in flags recently, so we are focusing on those

He calls the map "earth"



Practical Life

Clothes pegs

Vocabulary

After I showed him the flashcards, he did his usual OCD thing.

During this lesson, he was to match the names

Nerd boy enjoyed finding the matchy matchy miniature animal as well.

Math
We did not do a lot of math work lately, except on this particular day.

He requested for, "Green one, I want put cards"

After he was done with the 20 cards, I asked "Can you count 1 to 20 for me?"

Tiger replied with a grin, "One, two, twenty!"

LOL!

He was right!

Funny boy is into dancing as well but that's a post for another day.

Little Tiger: 29 months old

My baby boy is growing up way too fast.

Has it really been 29 months since he barged into my life?

Speech

He is speaking with confidence and slowly moving away from signing.

His leftover 'baby words' are fuu-fuu and wa-wa.

He can say shoe and water respectively but he does it just to clown around.

I find his baby words endearing and I will miss them, a lot,

when they disappear altogether...

It is so fascinating when out of the blue, he said stuff like, 

"Mama, who throw all the leaves down?" after a storm scattered some leaves

"Oopsie, I fang-pi (fart) oh"

"Mama clean, kakak (help) clean and Tiger clean."

After a pause.

"Tiger clean so nice"

He is learning his pronouns, which is really cute,

"Nai-nai, Mama scold you"

Huh?

"Wahaha, no, mama scold ME"

During a short break to Penang, I asked him to name some sea animals.

"Dolphin"

@.@

Mind you, I was expecting fish.

"Mama, I want to bwush teet"

This is his code for splashing water all over the bathroom.

After 5 minutes, " I help you wash glass"

NO

"Okay"  Proceeds to wash glass

SIGH..

Socially

Still slow to warm up to strangers.

Non-confrontational.

Sharer.

]On two occasions, I caught him snatching his toys from his peers.

Wonderful big brother, he loves the sister to bits.

Smothers her with kisses.

Must have caught the kissing bug from me >.<

He has a habit of holding his sister hands and calling her name.

Can't express in words how that simple action melts my heart.

Toilet-training,

well, let's just say we made zero progress.

Names 50 animals but he cannot control his bladder. Go figure.

Gross motor

Climbing stairs

Water sliding!

ALONE!

My scaredy cat..hehe

Daddy's waiting at the bottom, of course.

So much of difference from the boy who wouldn't go near

the slide last year at Hard Rock hotel.

This year, the sand is evil.

He is starting to drive me mad with his sassy two year old attitude.

Thank God grandma's with him 24/7 and not me!

To date, I have lost my temper at least 3 times.

By this, I mean, screaming at a helpless toddler for something that

he has done which totally defies reasons by my standard,

not his. Like climbing book racks, etc.

After each outburst, I end up ashamed and sorry.

I am not proud of myself but I am only human.

And as humans, we will screw up.

Motherhood is such a steep learning curve.

I am blessed to have a forgiving child who readily loves me back

each and every time....



Little Dragon: Too Cute For Words

I know, I know,

every mom thinks her baby's adorable

but

this face?

Too cute for words...

When we go to bed, her dreamy eyes say Goodnight

then,

in the morning,

I wake up to baby talk, gurgling, laughing and those round eyes...

Not a day goes by that I don't feel thankful for having

my two little darlings,

my health so that I can take care of them,

my parents who brought me into this world,

a roof over my head,

food on the table

Did I forget something?

Oh yeah, that other person,

my dear hubs

Love you lots too...

Wordless Wednesday is so not my thing.

So, I thought I would do a Wonderful Wednesday instead. 

Montessori: Three Period Lesson with Tweedlewink Flashcards

When we used to attend Tweedlewink, we were given a take home card at the end of each lesson.

It summarised the day's lesson and some mini vocabulary flashcards to cut out.

During the first few lessons, I diligently photocopied the card,

then lovingly cut and then rounded the edges...

All for nothing because Tiger refused flashing at all cost.

Recently, he started showing interest in flashcards.

Hooray for all the other flashcards as well!

{Phew, money NOT wasted!}

The Tweedlewink ones are really teeny tiny compared to his other cards.

They were visually a pain (to me) but they were perfect for Tiger's chubby hands :)

After rapid flashing, I gave him all 4 sets to lay out.

Like Step 1 of Montessori 3 Period Lesson, I name the cards as he laid them out.

Four sets seemed like a lot but he already knew half the contents, so that didn't count.

(Sets: Colour hues, Gardening tools, Emergency vehicles, Animals)

My little OCD enjoyed himself so much so he kept asking for more cards.

Admiring his work

Step 2: Looking for cards that I called out.

"Can you find turquoise?"

Step 3: I randomly selected cards and asked him, "What is this?"

I don't expect him to know all the cards.

I prefer the 3 part lessons compared to the rapid flashing because he gets to repeat the words.

At this point of his language development, he is storing new words and grammar for use later.

Besides, he thinks this is a game, not a vocabulary lesson :)

You know you need to be happy to learn, right?