Tiger's Officially Four!

Officially a four-year-old!

Every time we try to get a proper picture, he is doing this.

Not that he is posing as a monkey but he is generally itchy. Eczema. 

Poor boy.

I didn't plan for any big party but we did go to Penang the week before.

Considered party la?

I guess not. So I prepared some last minute party packs.

His birthday is always during school holidays =.="

Double the usual amount of friends.

So, I went the cheapskate route and bought everything from wholesaler.

About rm5 per bag

 Tiger's special pack.

In it, I included a special present.

When I got home from work, it was still unopened.

It was this whiplash set from Cars.

Kesian my boy. Grandma said to wait for mama.

The power of delayed gratification. He does it way better than I can.

 

I made a card for him and asked all his teachers and friends to sign it as a keep sake.

At night, we celebrated with family.

Hubs bought him an ice cream cake in the shape of a rose.

I was like WTF??!!

No other chocolate ice cream cake available it seems. Issshhh...

For his birthday wish, I helped him,

"Mama will always be beautiful, Papa will be wealthy and good health for everyone!"
Tiger said, "No, I want Cars!" and everyone laughed.

His fav friend at the moment is Dee Dee.

Luckily my BIL bought some party packs waaay before his birthday.

Otherwise its just plain plates and cups.

And no noisemakers.

Thanks Clem, no wonder you are his fav uncle!

Then, it was present time!

His big present! A manly dollhouse. 

A marble run and a race track.

All from mama.

Told everyone else not to bring gifts.

I didn't even wrap the dollhouse, I mean the fire station.
God, I have to stop calling it a dollhouse =.="

 

My sisters helped and it still took an hour.

Thanks, guys!

 

Amazing, ain't it?
I have to take more pictures before it becomes scratched and ugly.

 

The monkey sister.

 This girl was just interested in the box :)

My precious niece, Dee Dee who cried when 

I declared that I was Elsa and She was Olaf.

She'd rather be the storekeeper than Olaf.

Hahahaha....too cute, this girl!

Some of our favoritest people in the world

At four:

Fav colour: Purple and blue

Fav subject: Math

Fav food: Ebiko 

Fav dessert: Chocolate

Fav drink: Vitagen

Fav fren: Pei yi and li zhe

Fav cartoon: Mickey Mouse Clubhouse 

&

Doc Mcstuffin

Fav 'whatever': Anything with Disneys Cars on it

Fav person: Grandma

 Fav teacher: Mama

Best friend: Mama

 Fav hobby: Going to the park (with mama)

Best Mother in the whole wide world award: Mama (obviously)

Btw hubby gets worst dad award.

He forgot to pick up Tiger from class today.

And he kept laughing whenever he thinks of it.

Horrible!

I am going to delete this pic I collage for him!

Preschooler Update: Almost Four!

Almost Four!

How quickly this chubby baby became...

.....this lanky kid. 

He is still the sensitive, thinking child I've always had.

In this shot, he was pondering about which prop to add to his 'frog pond'

 

He is a little nerdy at heart. Okay, very nerdy.

Too skinny.

But handsome (haha!)

At almost 4,  he decides on what he would like to do.

Usually its some cut & glue or math.

When I suggest Ready? Go! (right brain practise)

He gives me a determined, sour face, "No. I don't like ready go"

"Why? I never scold you anymore" 

"I don't like it. I like math. You say ready go one more time, I go downstairs.

You study alone."

Sigh...

MATH

So, we do some math everyday.

Still dunno whose math genes he got. 

Must be Winnie yiyi's, cause nobody else likes math.

He is quite good for his age.

Not a genius because 3 year old geniuses would be doing quantum physics by now.

Here, he figured out skip counting by 2 without my help.

Btw, zero here represents 10 (according to him)

 I took the opportunity to introduce him to tadaaaaaa, the times table!

Sorry la, cannot resist the Asian Mom in me. 

 

More math. 

He actually enjoys tracing numbers and counting.

 

We danced to some skip counting by 2 songs from Youtube.

And then I decided to teach him odd vs even using the red counters.

He got it in 10 minutes. End of lesson.

I must be a damn good teacher la *flips hair*

PLAY

 He was down with some viral infection.

High grade fever for 5 days and lost some weight again....arghhhh.

 Still he requested for school but we just played during that time.

I love this set of building toys on loan from Winnie.

He made these that I posted on fb.

Got some money sense, this one.

 

I also posted some laughing pics of him.

Now I recall what it was that made him so happy.

I was telling him that the creature was llama

He said, "Blama? Clama? Clement??"

Hyena laugh.

 WRITING

Tiger is also keen on writing at the moment, so we focus on skills that strengthens his grip:

Coloring within lines

 

Writing in sand.

These are leftover from his sand art kid. I added some salt for volume

  

 He is always excited when I change the trays.

This set was meant to entice Dragon girl but Tiger insisted on doing it.

I replaced the red rods with marbles.

 Major tip to get their attention:

Just add water.

Now they are learning to share without whacking each other.

CHINESE

 He has completed B cards from Baobei after almost 1 year.

Not too bad for a non Chinese speaking boy.

SOCIAL SKILLS

With strangers, he still still very shy.

The sister is as much an extrovert as Tiger is introverted.

Dragon is the first on stage and Tiger would only dance after everyone's left.

 Oh, actually he didn't dance. He was just running around.

 

 With his darling Grandma

Cognitively he will have no problems.

Socially, he has improved a lot. 

He has two friends in Baobei now. 

Hahahahaha....versus one friend last year.

I love you, my darling boy.

I wish you a very Happy Birthday in advance and my only

wish for you at 4 years old is to gain some weight and to be in the pink of health.

Montessori At Home by John Bowman

Once upon a time, a girl (old girl) asked Mr John Bowman for a copy of his ebook and she was to write a review of it on her blog. She didn't.

I have my reasons. Really. Tiger wasn't verrry into Montessori type of activities. He likes worksheets. Weird, I know. Therefore, I felt it would be a biased review if I had raved over something I didn't really use.  So, I left it in a corner of my mind until recently.

As you guys already know, I tried teaching Dragon girl the way I did Tot School with Tiger. It was an epic fail.
 For example, this tray was set up for one-to-one correspondence with magnets.She wanted to do this instead:

 

Stumped and bordering insanity, I went through Mr Bowman's book again on my PC and decided to just focus on practical life and fine motor movement. What a difference it made!

You know you've got a good thing when it inspires you to get moving.

The introduction rocks and Mr Bowman will probably be one of the few

highly qualified people who tells you it is okay to substitute with cheaper, DIY materials.

(psst..using plastic ain't gonna kill anyone)

The book is very easy to read.

If you need any inspiration, he has included links to many brilliant homeschoolers.

Mine not included :(

The book includes many aspects of Montessori like

using things from home, a parental guide, sensorial, practical life, science,

geography, Digital life (apps and stuff), maths, etc.

You can view a sample of the book from his site here

The ebook itself is only USD 10.95

If you opt for to bundle with 40 materials from Montessori Print Shop

they will be a bargain of USD24.95
(Correction from my original post)

(If purchased individually, the printables will cost USD 60)

You can view the materials included here

If you are a Malaysian Chinese like me, your first reaction will be:

WTF?!! So many freebies??! Must buy laaa

And please don't ask me for free copy okay?

The bundle plus book is still cheaper than mascara.

 After going through the book, I prepared these for my two year old.
The 4 year old enjoyed modeling for his sister.
Dragon loved the scooping ping pongs and funneling trays.
She just practiced her pincer grip with the tweezing tray and that's okay.

 

The frog life cycle tray will hang around until I find Ted.

By the way, Ted is the tadpole that I am going to catch, soon.

 For more info on the book and his new books, please visit here

He will basically teach you how to do it at home without

burning a hole in your pocket and so much more.

We love it so much.

And Mr Bowman, I am very sorry the review is a year late.

I am only able to give a review when I truly believe in the product.