Happy 2010!

Happy 2010!

We'll be moving house in Jan 2010. So 2010 seems to signal a lot of beginnings for us.

A new place to live. I'm a bit apprehensive about how Sean will adapt to moving. Although we've told him about it, he still thinks that we'll be moving into a new house but the current one will still be around.

A new school for Sean. He has orientation on 3rd Jan, but school only starts for Nursery children on 18th of Jan. I hope his transition into new school goes smoothly. But there's really nothing I can do until it really starts. So we're just going to wing it.

There'll be many new beginnings in 2010. Here's a toast to the coming year. May it be blessed and bring new and wonderful experiences. =D

We celebrated our last Christmas party in this house in a big way. We cooked a lot of food! We had: Turkey, roast lamb, Spaghetti Carbonara, Bolognaise, Prawn salad, Tomato Bruschetta, garlic bread, Mango with yogurt and of course punch. Some of our relatives brought a huge tray of yam cakes, noodles, and a big Caramel white chocolate macademia cake.

What's also great was we had many relatives coming back from Singapore and Australia. So it was mostly a big family gathering. On Sam's side anyway.

Sean @ 39 month

This is very late. It's because Sean has been hogging my laptop so much recently. By the time he's not playing, and I'm no longer busy, I'm too tired to use the computer.

Mr. Why
Probably the most significant thing this month is Sean's incessant 'Why's. I can't remember how many months ago he started asking 'Why' but this month, he has at least 5-10 'Why's in every conversation. Now we know why other parents say, "don't worry about him speaking late, once they start, it's hard to keep them quiet." ha ha ha....

Christmas party at last day of Playgroup
The only thing I remembered to take photos of this month is the last day of Playgroup when we had our Christmas party. Sam was the Santa Claus of the day. When Sam came out from hiding ho-ho-ho-ing, Sean wasn't fooled for a second. He immediately asked, " Why is Daddy Christmas?" (He meant Santa Claus) Since we never really talked much about Santa Claus, he just associated him with Christmas. Even when taking photos together, he wasn't taking pictures with Santa Claus but with Daddy Christmas.

I invited the mummies and kids over to the house for an extended playgroup. The kids had a great time. We gave 2 of the rabbits away, Akamaru to Faye and Alvin, and Zorro to Jacqueline, Ethan, Jonathan, and Grace.

I invited a few mums and kids over the week after but most are already traveling to hometown. So only Sam and Yen came with their youngest who were much younger than Sean. So Sean went up to play computer with his Daddy while I had such a great time chatting that I went late to teach tuition. =P

I've also been busy packing the things in the storage room since we'll be moving house next month. So I haven't played much with Sean. He has been playing lots of computer games with Daddy. Daddy made a blog list of all Sean's games. This is Sean's game blog http://seansflashgames.blogspot.com/

But I found his old inflatable ball pit, which the maid almost thrown away, and blew it up and filled it up with balls. Sean insisted that I joined him inside the ball pit. So we had a wonderful time rolling around inside the ball pit. We even crashed the standing fan because of our enthusiasm. =P The next morning, I found parts of the pit deflated. Ha ha ha... I had punctured it. =P

Anyone for a rainbow cookie?

Don't they look colorful? Hmmm... and they taste pretty good too. It's called the Playdough cookie because of it's colors. There are so many ways you can play around with this cookie dough: valentine, easter, birthdays, etc. The limit is your imagination. =D

I'm making these for the Christmas party at playgroup this Thursday. I got the recipe from this website The Sits Girls.

Play Dough Cookies
3/4 C butter
3 ounces cream cheese
1 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 t vanilla extract
2 and 3/4 C flour
1 t baking powder
1/4 t salt
assorted food coloring (gel or paste works best)

I didn't have cream cheese so I put in more butter. The cookies have a buttery and sugary taste.

1. In a bowl cream butter, cream cheese and sugar until fluffy. Add egg and vanilla. Beat until smooth.

2. In a bowl combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Add dry ingredients to the creamed mixture. Stir until soft dough forms. Divide dough into Fourths. Tint each with a different food coloring. Wrap in plastic and chill for two hours. (I stuck it in the freezer for 15 minutes because I hate to wait!)

3. Preheat oven to 350. Shape cookies to your liking. Place cookies 2 to 3 inches apart on greased cookie sheet to allow for spreading.

4. Bake for 8 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool and store in an airtight container.Enjoy!


Sean likes helping me out when we bake cakes. I get him to stir or sift flour. This time round, I made the cookies without his help, but I think next time he can make a few of his own cookies too. =D

Since Sean is into cooking games. I let him play with a big bowl of uncooked rice. I'm not sure what other boys do, but my son has marbles, cars, and vegetables in his bowl and he likes to pour the rice into a hat.

No more swimming

He's been crying during swimming lessons and refusing to swim, and finally I said, " Fine, we'll stop swimming."

I think falling sick twice after swimming is the cause of this. Sam keeps telling him not to swallow the swimming pool water because he'll get sick. Obviously, at this stage, he still swallows some water, which causes him to cough because he's scared of getting sick again, and cry, which makes his nose stuffy, and hence difficult to swim.

I was upset with him today for refusing to swim. But eventually I said to myself that if Sean really dislikes something, I shouldn't push it.

So we left halfway the lesson because he didn't want to enter the water anyway and there'll be no more swimming lessons. I want him to know how to swim so he can save himself if he ever falls into water. But it looks like he really dislikes swimming since the flu.

I'm going to cajole him the next few days to see if he'll continue for at least another month but knowing my son, I think we'll have to wait until he wants to learn it at his own time. I just feel that it's a big pity because he was just only beginning to get it.

Holiday Homeschooling

I've been reading up on homeschooling and I like the idea a lot. At the moment, we aren't planning to homeschool Sean but since we are planning to send Sean to a mandarin based kinddy, I thought I should at least teach him English at home.

Sean's corner

First, I created a corner where we can play and learn together. It's meant to be a place where he is comfortable and know where all his things are. However we keep moving the things here and there so we haven't got to the point where he knows where all his things are.

Then on Friday, I covered his tables with white paper and plastics. It's meant to be a writing table that you can write and wipe off, like a whiteboard, so that Sean can scribble on it anytime he wants. But I found out that Sean doesn't want to wipe off the things he writes on the table. So it doesn't really work the way I imagined it to be.

Writing

Today I got him to write a few words just for a few minutes. At first I just got him to write on a white piece of paper. It turned out terrible because he couldn't manage the size of his letters. So I drew out a box for each letter and that helped a lot.

You can see in the picture. The above words 'red bird' was done at the beginning. He wrote: yellow duck, blue horse, green frog, purple cat, white dog and lastly brown bear. By the time he got to 'brown bear, his handwriting has improved a lot.

Sean tried using markers, pencils and crayons. Although he doesn't like crayons because he finds them icky, crayon is still the best medium for learning to write. It's easier to control compared to markers or pencils.

I'm not sure how often I can sneak in writing lessons but hopefully more and more often.





I made some sandpaper letters. It's a bit mismatched because I used whatever I had at home. When I ran out of the sandpaper,I couldn't find the same color. I'll try them out on Sean and see if they help with writing.





He still loves playing the computer most. I have to say there are just so many interesting things online that normal games can't really compete with the variety of games available online. But I try to get him do other things so that at least he gets a balanced day, such as playing playdough and cooking games.

We've also been playing with empty boxes, stacking them up, in a row, or puttings things into them. There are lots of things you can do with empty boxes. Just require a lot of energy on my part to do whatever Sean wants to do. LOL.... mummy isn't as energetic as Sean though. =P

Yesterday, we played shaved ice.
Btw, using food coloring stains even if just a little bit. It's probably better to use syrup for coloring. It may be a bit sticky but it shouldn't stain as much as food coloring.




Daddy has wanted to make Sean a Wall.e costume. So today he cut out a box for the body. Unfortunately Sean wanted to paint it red, so it didn't become wall.e after all.

Oh yeah, I made this wrist band as a craft for the playgroup. But the idea was to get Sean remember his name and to learn how to open and close button. It's very easy to make.

Funny or alarming?

I'm not sure whether I should find it funny or alarming, but recently Sean has been making comments like this:

"Sean cannot listen to Mummy!"

i.e. He doesn't want to listen to me because he's frustrated that
a) I don't understand him
b) I tease him too much. LOL =P

Oops! He does not want to listen to me at 3 years old? What will happen when he 12?

Ok, I admit sometimes I ask him again and again what he said because his pronunciation is still unclear. He gets frustrated when I still don't get it.

And sometimes I do tease him, for example he used to say "Otay" for Ok. So to get him to say it correctly, we tease him, is it 'Otay?", then he will say it correctly, "O-k-k-k-ay!". He specifically pronounced the 'k' properly to make sure we understand that he can say it correctly now.

Sometimes I tease him, "Are you my baby?" He will say, "No! I'm a boy! Not a baby!"

Okay, maybe I shouldn't tease him too often, but it's so fun sometimes. This mummy can be rather mischievous LOL =P

But, Sean also teases me back. The other day when I was toweling him off after his swim lesson, he peed almost on my foot. I told him off, but maybe not seriously enough. The whole trip home he kept saying "PeePee!" and breaking into peals of laughter. When I say "Sean...." warning him not to continues, he goes "PeePee!" ha ha ha ha...

*Shake head*

My 3 year old son is already telling me he does not want to listen to me and teases me back. LOL. Maybe I should be a little stricter with him. I've got a cheeky monkey for a son. =P

Sean @ 38 month old

Half of Sean's 38th month seemed to be spent at home wiping noses.
But looking back at the pictures I took, he has grown by leaps and bound.

It's quite amazing at the speed children at this age learns. Everything seems to click this month.






Writing 'Optimus Prime'
Today, Sean gave us a surprise. While I was trying to encourage him to scribble on paper, just to get him used to holding a pen, he suddenly said that he wanted to write Optimus Prime. The last time I tried to get him to any writing was a month ago, and he hasn't wanted to do any writing since then. So I thought he wasn't interested and I didn't want to push.


Anyway, I spelled out Optimus Prime and he wrote it by himself. He didn't now how to write 'S' so I wrote 's' as an example, and he followed the example. We were pleasantly surprised that his handwriting is not too bad, it's at least legible he he he....

Reading aloud

I noticed that he seems to be ready to read beginning books. So I borrowed some really simple books for him to read. I've read them to him a few times. There are, of course, words that he doesn't know, but I thought if he was not adverse to it, why not get him read, even pretend reading is good. =D

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see?
This is one of his favorite books. Although I know he can read a few words here and there, I think in this video he was mostly saying aloud from memory.



Silly Races
This is a beginning Kipper's book. It has very short sentences. He really likes it.



The Balloon
He didn't read it properly, but he's a cheeky boy.



Play Cooking

Here's a video of Sean cooking for his soft toys. What's funny is that his soft toys has to follow a certain sequence. First Caterpillar, Tigger, Hippo, Dog, Manate, and last Cow. We tried fooling him and mix up the sequence of his soft toys while he plays with them. But he insists that they have to follow that particular sequence. When his mind is fixed on something, it can't be changed.



Last Day at Children's Corner



Last Saturday was the last day at Children's Corner for the year 2009. So each child has to be a letter from Letterland. Sean is Annie Apple. Here he is with a few friends whom I managed to take photographs of.


Sean and Alvie, Robber Red.








Sean and Grace, Uppity Umbrella.


Sean and Emily, Bouncy Ben.













Lesson on W



This was one of the last lessons for the year, the letter W. Sharon, one of the volunteer teachers, was telling the children about water. Look at them all enraptured by the lesson. I love to see these children so interested.


Visit to Science Center

Here are pictures of Sean and Daddy when we went to the Science Center before he got sick. Sam wanted to bring Sean to see the Dinosaur exhibit even before he was hospitalized. But we tarried too long and by the time we went there, the Dinosaur exhibition was over.




There was still one T-Rex and a few other dinosaurs. But Sean was too scared to appreciate them. Nonetheless, the Science Center is very interesting and we hope to go there again when they have something new.

Finally swimming

A week before he got sick, he finally managed to conquer his fear of water and actually swam. On that day, he cried for the first half and hour, refusing to enter the swimming pool. I tried to cajoule him but to no avail. Finally, I said'Ok, we'll call Daddy to pick us up. Meanwhile, why don't you play jumping into the water with Coach Wayne?' Which finally made him enter the swimming pool.

By the time Sam came, he was already doing his swimming lesson, and after the lesson he swam with his swimming board all by himself!

I'm back

Being sick is sure a waste of time and energy. You can't do a lot of things, you feel listless, tired and cranky all the time. Sean was definitely whiny this time round.

Every other 2 minutes he goes, "Nose!", i.e. he wants me to wipe his nose because it's wet. Eventually I get so tired of wiping his nose, I finally taught him how to blow his nose. He makes a mess of it, his face gets smeared all over, but at least I'm no longer his nose wiper.

But this time round, the flu was terrible. His fever went up and down. In the morning we think he's ok, at night, the fever runs high. All 3 of us didn't get much sleep and eventually all of us got sick.

Sean is ok now, Sam and I are still recovering.

But while we didn't go for playgroups, I've been doing some cleaning up. I've rearranged Sean's toy's in the hope that I'm creating a more Montessori environment (will take pictures and post them up). The first day he says, "It's not corright (correct).", i.e. I've moved his things around and he doesn't like it. I'm trying to introduce him to his new play corner and hoping that he'll get comfortable soon.

My plans for next year is to still go to the current playgroups in the mornings so he is still exposed to an speaking English environment. And in the afternoon, when I work, he goes to Kindergarten which will be in Mandarin. I'm not sure how well that will work.

Firstly, Tadika Diyana is quite far at Taman Tun. So travel arrangement may wear us down. Next, it'll be in Mandarin. I'm not sure how Sean will adapt to it. I hope he will then I won't worry too much about him.

We shall see. It's only next year which is still a while away. Plans always changes. I'm just going to be flexible and see how Sean reacts to all these plans made for him.

We're still sick

I am now also sick together with Sean. I am not sure whether that is a blessing or is worse that it is over the weekend. The doctors are closed but at least I have my MIL to help me with Sean in the afternoon. My hubby has been taking care of both of us in the morning and at night.

Thank you dear, I really appreciate that you have taken over the doctor duty, because I am feeling just too weak to do anything much.

Sean had added cough to his fever and runny nose. The poor boy cannot sleep because of his cough throughout the whole night. Hence, all of us cannot sleep too. I really hope he gets better soon. This is getting too long. Tomorrow we have to make another visit to the doctor.

Sean is sick

Sean has been having a high fever since Wednesday, so it's been 3 days. Luckily, he doesn't have the croup which caused him to be hospitalized last month. But this time the fever is not going away. We brought him to the doctor yesterday to get the doc's opinion, but again, whenever we go to the doc, he seems ok. He gets really hot at night, like right now.

Poor boy. I hope he gets better soon so he can enjoy playing again. Otherwise this worried mummy may bring him to the hospital again, but that's something I really don't want to do unless it's necessary.

Tadika Diyana

After much thought and headache over whether or not we should prepare Sean for chinese primary school, we have decided to register Sean in a Kindergarten which has both streams, i.e. Tadika Diyana.

I went again this time with Sam to see the place. Today, we had a better impression. The children were lively and were having a good time at school. I checked the play area and it was bigger than Peter and Jane's. They also have a big hall where they do PE and we saw children having a good time during PE, which I feel is important at this age.

We were both quite happy with the school and Sean seems happy there. So we registered there and then.

http://www.tadikadiyana.com.my/

Why are we even talking about chinese school?

Obviously, we are rather concerned about the standard of the Kebangsaan school. If we decide to send Sean to a chinese primary school in 3 years time, we have to make sure that we prepare him for it, which is why I've been having a tough time deciding which school to send Sean to. I didn't even consider chinese school when we started the kindergarten search. We've only thought about it last week. All the ratings I did was based on my observation of the teacher's ability to speak english and the general feel of the place.

I've talked to many other mothers about their opinions on chinese schools and what their thoughts on how to proceed for us since we can't speak mandarin or even any dialects. Most of them suggest that we send Sean to a chinese kindergarten even from now so he gets a good exposure to the language first.

Since we are still undecided, we decided that we'll let Sean try to do his kindergarten in mandarin. I'm hoping that he's not going to object too much being put into the chinese stream next year. If we see that he really dislikes it, then we'll take him out and put him into the english stream, and later on to a Kebangsaan primary school.

I can't believe that we have to think of primary school even from now. But if we don't prepare Sean for the possibility of going to a chinese primary school from now, the possibility that he'll adapt later on is very slim.

We were set to put Sean in Fairfield because we felt it has the best english teachers out of all the schools. But I brought Sam to see Diyana because it was the only school he hadn't seen. He liked it and Sean seemed quite happy with the place, happily running around and playing at the playground. We had discussed the night before, ok, no chinese school because the cultural difference between an english speaking home and a chinese school is very different. But when we went to Diyana, we saw the possibility that it may work.

Diyana seems to attract many parents who don't speak chinese to put their children in the chinese stream. So I'm hoping that Sean won't feel out of place when he starts school next year. I'm also hoping that the teachers know how to handle children who come from non-chinese speaking family gently and introduce mandarin in a non-threatening way.

So here is to us hoping that we made the right choice.

Sean @ 37 months

Another month has passed. He had his birthday and then he was hospitalized for a night and a day. Soon after, we were busy thinking of where to send Sean next year for nursery.

Sean has been spending a lot of time playing computer games because mummy is either out teaching tuition or doing some transcribing work at home. But he tries to get my attention as much as possible when I'm working at home. Whenever his game is loading (it's an online game, so it takes time to load), he comes over and "Hug mummy!" So I've been getting loads of hugs and cuddles, and a lot of "I love you Mummy!"

Ok, the picture here is when he's making his Grrr face, not exactly loving and cuddly, but most of the time, he's full of hugs and kisses. =D

I feel blessed my son is so loving and so free with his hugs and kisses. I hope mummy will always get as many hugs as I am now getting from you. I'll miss you next year when you start nursery full time.

So what's up with Sean:

His current favorite game is Busytown Mysteries based on Richard Scarry's character. He loves listening to the songs and dancing to them, and he loves going around the town in the game. It's really an interesting game. Perfect for kids Sean's age.
http://www.cbc.ca/kidscbc/play/busytownmysteries/

We haven't been doing much art recently. So on Saturday, I thought we could just have a messy afternoon on the porch. Sean spent a short time drawing chalk figures and painting of Animal Mechanicals. They are not like the original characters at all but I'm proud of his drawings and painting nonetheless. After painting, he preferred to fight a bush with a stick instead!

Unicorn and rex













Mighty Sasquatch










Komodo
















This is what the Mighty Sasquatch painting finally looked like.












Ok, this drawing looks like squiggles, but it's supposed to be a spaceship with 4 aliens looking out of windows.

Need info on Chinese Primary School

Seriously, this kindergarten search thing is giving me a headache. Maybe it's just me, I feel the need to know enough to be able to make a decision, but the more I know, the more choices there are. So we've decided to let things take it's own course. We've done our research and we've finally ranked them in order. So we are now just waiting to hear from the schools whether there'll be space for Sean next year.

I don't want to think too much again. LOL.

Now, there's something else bothering me. I wish I'm not the type to think so much about all these. It would be nice to just decide, Hey that's fine and that's it. But that's not me.

It's the whole Chinese versus Kebangsaan issue. At first, we were quite sure that we are not even going to think about sending to a Chinese school because both of us can't speak any Chinese at all. We didn't want him to have to take too many tuition or to feel too much pressure on school work.

But recently we heard that Chinese school isn't that bad. The facilities are good, the teachers are dedicated, and they are no longer that harsh, and if you learn chinese early enough, you shouldn't have that much trouble with the work at school. Now I'm not sure if any of these are true, but it has made us be open to the idea of sending Sean to a Chinese primary school. Maybe only, it's still a new thought.

I know it's still early, but I heard that you have to register by next year! I'm not sure if that's correct, but I need more information about this.

So if anyone can enlighten me about what Chinese primary school is like, I would be more than grateful.

In search for a kindergarten - part 2

New info:

I've just heard from a friend whose son is in Peter and Jane that they have changed the school hours from 3 to 4 hours, which means the school fees have increased substantially!

She was complaining that she calculated that the snack costs her RM10 each day, and her son is only getting biscuits and milo. She also doesn't like the teacher and her son's class is next to the toilet. Despite asking for class change, she was told that there was no space. I do feel that it's unfair because I feel that the Mutiara Damansara P&J has excess space!

So I'm really glad that we decided not to send Sean to P&J.

We really like Tadika Diyana. Sean liked it immediately and there was no fuss at all when h started school. His teachers speaks both English and Mandarin well. She is also very nice. Despite his class being next to the toilet also, it's not a problem because it's a closed class and air-conditioned. He is very comfortable in his school and looks forward to going to school.

So if anyone read this entry about kindergarten. My choices will be:

1. Tadika Diyana
2. Fairfield (for English session)
3. Peter and Jane (but the school fees is even higher than before!)

The kindergarten that I thought I was not even going to take a look at (because of the expense) turn out to be the one that I really like, i.e. Peter and Jane. Unfortunately, their morning session is already full. So next week, we'll go take a look at the Peter and Jane in Mutiara Damansara.

Our current possible choices are:

1. Peter and Jane. They are full for morning classes in Taman Sea, only afternoon classes are available.

2. Fairfield. My only concern is that there'll be only 1 class of 4 years old next year. That may be too few possible friends for Sean.

3. Juara Cerdik. Because it's nearby and the fees are affordable. But Sean may not like it because of the drastic change from being able to play a lot to having to sit and study so much. So I forsee a lot of "I don't want to go to school, Mummy" in the first few months.


My review of the kindergartens, if anyone is interested :P
These are in a sort of order of rank.

1. Tadika Diyana - classroom concept

I went for a 2nd look with Sam. This time our impression is much better. The children were quite lively today, which gives us the same impression as the other schools above.
Guided by Montessori approach for Nursery but little of it is practiced. More emphasis on academics for K1 and K2. Teacher student ratio = 2:20 for nursery

Pros: A beautiful school structure. Classrooms are quite spacious. Has many facilities. Fees average. It has English and Mandarin stream, which makes it flexible for people like us who have not decided where we will be sending Sean for Primary school.

Cons: Some of the teachers and students looked rather bored. Classroom arrangement more suited to be a Primary school. It would be great if several classes of children can play together during playtime, but despite the big school compound, it's play area is small. I checked out the play area again. It's much bigger than Peter and Jane's play area. And they have a big hall where they do their PE.

1. Peter and Jane - Open concept
Nursery (4 yrs old) - Montessori approach. Lots of learning through hands and play. Emphasis on motor skills, creativity, music and learning through activities. Teacher student ratio = 1:14 for nursery.
K1 and K2 (5 & 6 yrs old) - Gradual introduction of more academics, maths, reading, writing and communication. K2 is divided into English and Mandarin sections.

Pros: Montessori approach. Friendly and warm teachers who speak well. Clean, bright and cheerful. Teaching system is well thought out. Gradual learning of new languages. Children seem to enjoy themselves a lot and yet it's orderly.
Cons: Maybe a little noisy because of the open concept, but I think Sean may thrive in such an environment. Expensive.

2. Fairfield - Classroom concept
British system. Emphasis on reading, creative writing and communication. Teacher student ratio = 1:15

Pros: Older, more experienced teachers. A big grassy field where all the children play together during play period. I like the fact that they get to play together. The children are friendly and polite. Principal and main teacher are ex-Garden International.
Cons: Classrooms rather small. Quite expensive.

3. Nakorn Sari - Classroom concept
British system. Emphasis more on play. Great for children below 4 years old. Teacher student ratio = 2:15 (I think)

Pros: Very fun and has lots of activities. Teachers are cheerful and friendly.
Cons: Lack of order and discipline. Quite expensive.



5. Beaconhouse Gasing - classroom concept
Guided by Montessori approach for Nursery. More emphasis on academics for K1 and K2. Teacher student ratio = 1:15 for nursery

It's really average because it neither impresses us nor was there anything wrong with it.


Fungates open concept
It's marketed to be learning through play but I saw more studying than play. The high emphasis on academics can be a pro or con depending on parents' viewpoint. A lot of emphasis on workbook and practice. Exams and homework start from 4 years old. Seems to emphasis a lot on Mandarin lessons than any of the other lessons.

1. Juara Cerdik - Fungates
Pros: Teachers seem ok. Teacher student ratio = 1:18 for nursery. Fees are affordable. Good value for money. Nearby our house.
Cons: May not have enough play time. Lots of studying. I saw a 4 year old girl practicing chinese characters!

2. Madeline - Fungates
Pros: Cheap. Quite organized. They have 2 options at K2, English and Mandarin.
Cons: Teachers do not speak English well. Teacher student ratio = 1:25. Classrooms seem overcrowded.

3. Sri Nobel - Fungates
Pros: None I saw.
Cons: Strict lots of rules. The environment is cold and factory like. Lots of cons!!!! It's terrible!

In search for a kindergarten

We are thinking of putting Sean into a full kindergarten next year. One thing is because I'm getting busier and don't have as much time as I used to with him. He also looks to be growing out of the current playgroups he is in. So therefore we've been checking out kindergarten this week.

Our criteria for a kindergarten:
1. Experienced teachers who are well-spoken and have warm personalities.
2. A good system which teaches well but nothing too academic because we feel that it's still important to have time for play and reflection.
3. A good level of discipline but not too harsh. Discipline is still important but it shouldn't be meted out in a harsh manner that it suppresses the personality of the child.

All these will result in
4. Children who are warm and friendly. So we also want to see the children who are studying in the school because they will be the community of students that we want Sean to be friends with.

And last but not least

5. A place that Sean likes. So his personal judgment is still taken into account.


We went to see 3 kindergartens this week and including the kindergarten that Sean attended before, they rank in this order:

1. Fairfield (British system)
2. Nakorn Sari (I think British system)
3. Beaconhouse (own system)
4. Madeline (Fungates)

Unfortunately, we went to Beaconhouse and Madeline on their open days and could not see the children. But they did not meet our first criteria.

We like the feel and teachers of Nakorn Sari but criteria no.3 is not met, which is I think the reason Sean does not like it despite the friendly and cheerful teachers over there. Actually Nakorn Sari seems like a really fun place but every time we even pass the school, or the other day when we went for the Lantern Festival, Sean always comments quite emphatically " Don't like this school."

So at the moment, our current choice is Fairfield, which seem to meet criteria 1-4.

Sean did not say whether he likes it or not, which is why we're still going to look at a few other kinddies:

5. Sri Nobel (Fungates)
6. Juara Cerdik (Fungates)
7. Tadika Diyana (not sure yet)
8. Peter and Jane (maybe)

With the Fungates system, I'm just wondering whether it's just too academical? It feels a bit like a factory system where the children (crammed in a class of 25) are fed academics subjects throughout the whole morning. I can see that by the time they leave at 6 years old, they will have learned quite a lot.

However, does this system take away creativity because everyone has to do the same thing at the same time? I know that will be what they'll have to do once they get to Standard 1, but they are only little kids now, and isn't this the time when they can relax and play?

I can't make up my mind about it yet because we have yet to see children in the school setting. So hopefully when we see the next few kinddies later, we'll be able to make a better judgment.

When I'm not home

Sam takes care of Sean for the few hours that I am out teaching tuition.

Today, Sean played computer games while his daddy fell asleep on the bed. And when Sam woke up, Sean was taking photos of him sleeping with a headphone on his head. =P

No photos though because Sam does not want his unflattering photo posted up on the blog. *chuckle*

The days after hospitalization

I mentioned that Sean was already bouncing around, pushing his boundaries and testing our patience. He was rather naughty from the moment we came back home. He was just literally bouncing here and there and was rather deviant when we tell him not to.

We went back to see the Pediatrician from the hospital the next morning just for routine check up. The doctor said he seemed ok since he was already gaining his voice back and had no more fever. He said that we did not have to finish the whole bottle of Prednisone syrup, which is a corticosteroid, and only had to give him for another day.

We were wondering what caused his sudden extra naughtiness. Maybe while he was sick he was obedient, now that he is feeling fine, he wants to do everything at once, and therefor the comparison makes it look like he was naughtier than ever? He really could not sit still, jumping on the bed and running here and there, just like an energizer bunny. He was very reckless and deviant.

However, once we stopped the prednisone yesterday, I noticed that his behavior improved. Today, his voice is already back and he is back to normal behavior. I strongly suspect that the prednisone was the cause of this particular behavior.

It is a good thing that we did not have to finish the whole bottle. The list of side effects of taking Prednisone is long and scary!


From About.com

Prednisone Side Effects

The most common side effects of taking prednisone include muscle weakness, osteoporosis, fractures, Cushing's syndrome, pituitary-adrenal axis suppression, growth suppression, glucose intolerance, acne, edema, hypertension, hypokalemia, alkalosis, cataracts, glaucoma, peptic ulcer, nausea, vomiting, headache, vertigo, seizures, psychoses, pseudotumor cerebri, and skin atrophy. Some kids also develop mood swings, become irritable, and have trouble sleeping when they take prednisone.

Most side effects, especially growth suppression, edema, and immune system problems are going to be worse with long term use of Prednisone and less likely with the short term course that most children take for typical asthma attacks or for relief from poison ivy, etc.

What You Need To Know

Although one of the more useful medicines in Pediatrics, especially when you see the dramatic effects prednisone has on a child with a severe asthma attack, it can have serious side effects when overused or misused and it should only be prescribed when it is really necessary.

Other important information:

• your child should not take prednisone if he has a systemic fungal infection or has a known hypersensitivity to prednisone
• call your Pediatrician if your child is taking prednisone and has been exposed to measles or chickenpox
• if your child has asthma and is frequently taking prednisone, then he really should be on a daily preventative medicine, such as Advair, instead

Sean was hospitalized for Laryngitis

Sean started having a mild fever on Tuesday night after swimming. It was mild so we weren't worried. On Wednesday night, his fever became very high. We gave him his medication and wiped him down. We immediately brought him to see his pediatrician on Thursday morning.

Mummy and Daddy took care of Sean on Thursday and sponged him throughout the day because his fever was still high despite the medication.

This video was taken on Thursday afternoon when he started losing his voice.



He started to wheeze heavily in the evening. I called the pediatrician who suggested that we bring him to the hospital to get the nebulizer. But before we brought him there, we went to nearby GP first hoping that he could get the nebulizer there because he didn't seem to be that sick. (Ok, I didn't know what a nebulizer was) The GP also told us to bring him to the hospital. So then we registered and saw another GP who was on duty who confirmed that he needed to stay the night.

Sean was actually still quite active, and I wouldn't know that his heavy breathing was something considered serious if we didn't see these doctors. His wheezing is called Stridor and he had Laryngitis - Croup, which is a respiratory disease.

So Sean had 2 nebulizer treatment at the Emergency Room, one for Adrenaline and another for Steroids before they took his blood for blood test and checked him in. We told him that he shouldn't talk because he needed to save his voice. He was very obedient and behaved beautifully.

This is picture of Sean in the emergency room. He had to cover his eyes because the steroid nebulizer can irritate the eyes.







They gave him 2 suppositories during the night and 2 more nebulizer treatment. By morning his fever was down, but they gave him 2 more nebulizer treatment, one each, adrenaline and steroids.

Sean was sad and a bit depressed. He wanted to go home. Poor boy, he had no voice, so his cry was silent.



Sam and I went home for a quick shower when Mum and Dad came over. We brought him a few toys. He was so happy to at least have a few toys.

We had the laptop so we could watch movies while he was there. But there was no internet so he couldn't play any games.


We asked the doctor to let us check out that day but he told us to wait until evening when he comes and check Sean's condition. He was stable so he said we could leave.

While waiting for the documentations, which took several hours, Sean fell asleep. When he woke up, he complained that his throat hurt. So we asked for another nebulizer treatment before we leave.

By this time, Sean is already so scared of being in the hospital. He didn't want the nebulizer anymore, but we told him this was so that his throat would not hurt anymore. He was crying the whole time he had the mask on. He whispered in his hoarsed voice, " Enough, no more." Poor boy. I was glad that he no longer had fever and we could leave that day.

He was so happy to come home. He wanted to do everything that he missed. He was so impatient to be able to play his games online, and then played a bit of Lego, and needed to touch everything in the room just to feel reassured that he's finally home.

This experience really taught me that we cannot treat symptoms such as coughing or wheezing too lightly. I would have probably wait until Friday to bring him to the doctor again if Mum did not say that the wheezing is not normal. I never thought that Laryngitis was dangerous. I thought it was something that would go away after a few days. I guess this teach me a lesson to be more alert next time.


Today, Sam and I had to rest from the whole episode. I had a mild fever and both of us were just exhausted. On the other hand, Sean is already bouncing around and pushing his boundaries and trying our patience!

From Wikipedia:

Croup
It is characterized by a barking cough; a whistling, obstructive sound (stridor) as the child breathes in; and hoarseness due to obstruction in the region of the larynx. It may be mild, moderate or severe, and severe cases, with breathing difficulty, can be fatal if not treated in a hospital

Being 3 years old

I think turning 3 years old is a big milestone for many toddlers. Somehow they seem to grow up so quickly.

Sean's speech is more and more fluent everyday. Sam has been encouraging Sean to tell stories to get him to think and talk. So Sean would go, " One day... watch Mighty Sasquatch..." and proceed to tell us a story from one of the episode of Animal Mechanicals.

Yes, his current favorite character is Mighty Sasquatch. His favorite color is blue, his favorite letter is the letter D, which he associate with being blue in color. Letter B was yellow. We went through letter C very quickly, so it didn't get a color of it's own. And his favorite number is number 3 this week.

We've been playing 'I spy something blue' when we're in the car, and he'll go, "More.... more blue!"

He's been playing more and more imaginatively. I got some 2nd hand toys from the library, bits and pieces of McDonald's toys or free toys that people donated to the library. They then sell them for fund raising. I paid a few ringgit for a few packs of toys. We got small Mickey, Minney, Donald and 2 Mickey faces, a rocket, an airplane, baby Shrek and Pinocchio . Sean was immediately attached to Mickey and Minney, and we've been playing Mickey and Minney everyday.

He brought them even to bathe the other day. Mickey and Minnie fly in rockets, drive cars, and go through lots of accidents as he crash and bang them. He really enjoys it, but we have to play with him. Sean is Mickey, Mummy is Minnie, Daddy is Donald.


Writing and playing Lego

I finally bought a box of colored chalk, and we played on the porch yesterday. To make it interesting, I said we could write on the porch floor. Of course, Sean was only interested in words that start with the letter D. So I wrote dog, duck and dinosaur. I told him to try writing too. He didn't want to write dog, duck or dino, but he was ok with writing 'dim' and 'dig' The activity took only about 10 minutes.





Then, out of the blue he decided that he wanted to play Lego. Perhaps it was because we went to Bryan's house and he played blocks there. We bought the copy Lego for him last Christmas, but it wasn't played very much. It was more of him telling me to make something for him.








But this time round, he wants to make a car himself, a blue car of course. =D And mummy had to make a red car, while Daddy's was yellow. He was rather proud of his blue car, and I'm glad to see that his fingers are able to manipulate the small lego pieces. I had to help him a little bit, but he made it mostly by himself.



Reading and Typing

Tonight, he read out the whole book 'Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see?' almost all by himself. He had trouble reading the word 'looking' and 'black', but once I read it out to him, he had no trouble reading out the whole book. Maybe it's because 'Brown Bear' is an easy book, it's repetitive and has a nice rhyme to read.

I haven't spent much time teaching him how to read. After reading so many books about reading,I've decided that I'm not going to push him about reading now since he's only 3 years old. The simplest way is to read lots of books to him and I felt that is the best way to go for now. But if he wants to know what a word says, then I'll tell him what it says. I've also started to do book reviews. This is just to document the books that we've borrowed from the library. So if we like a book, I don't have to crack my head to remember the title. You can check it on my other blog.

He likes the 'I can sing a rainbow' song. So I put the song sheet on the wall and he'll read out the colors. Sometimes Sean likes to type on the computer. So Sam will tell him to read the colors from the song and copy the colors. So he'll go back and forth between the laptop and the wall to type them out. Sam will help him change the color of the font and he'll type

RED
YELLOW
BLUE
ORANGE
PURPLE

He can type by himself
APPLE
BEE
CAT
DOG

Then recently, he's started typing
RED APPLE
YELLOW BANANA
BLUE WHALE
ORANGE ORANGE
We had to tell him how to type 'banana' and 'whale' ,of course.

YouTube videos

Just to say that I've changed the settings of Sean's birthday videos. It should be able to be viewed now.

The birthday parties at Playgroup

On Thursday,
we had a simple birthday party at Playcentre playgroup. This time Sean shared a birthday with Hanzjay who also turned 3 years old this week. Hanzjay's mum, Sherinder, got the cake and drinks, so I got the rest of the food, egg sandwiches, chicken nuggets, sweet corn and watermelon. Things kids would eat, nothing fancy.

When I told Samantha and Amelia that Sean was sad that his friends weren't around on his birthday, they immediately offered to come over after Kai's kindy finished. So they came around 1.30pm to surprise Sean.









Thursday afternoon
Sean, Kristen and Kai, had a great time fighting and playing with each other. I think at this age, kids are just funny. Sean would miss them so much when they aren't around, but when they meet, they fight and then Sean usually would cry. But when later Kai and Kristen leave, Sean would miss them again. Sometimes I don't understand them. =P But Sean was really happy to have them here at home. That was a great afternoon, for us mums as well as the children.



I baked the cake for Friday's party in the afternoon and spent the evening decorating it. I made the cake for both Sean and Eason who's sharing the birthday party at Children's Corner.

Sean wanted Animal Mechanical Mouse this time round and I made a dinosaur for Eason. I also named the cupcakes Sean, Eason and Charmaine who was also having her birthday this week.

That was a lot of work. I think next year, we'll just have one big party and make a big cake. The baking doesn't take that long, but the decorating takes a lot of time. And next time, I want to have proper equipment! Doing it the old fashion way is a lot of work. But, I'm just happy that Sean is excited about both his cakes. =D

At Children's Corner on Friday



After all that preparation, the friday party was a good one. All we had to do was just enjoy the day. Joey, Eason's mummy, brought a pinata for the kids to hit at the end of the playgroup. Everything was fine until Eason was injured when Clarence swung the stick too vigorously. He was hit on his eyelid. Poor Eason, he was shocked and very scared. After crying for a long time, he managed to open his eyes. I hope his eyes are alright.


I brought the camera and was able to record short clips of Sean dancing. Daddy came along for both Thursday and Friday birthday party, and recorded the birthday for us. I think Sean enjoyed himself very much this birthday with so many parties going on.







The next day, he asked for Animal Mechanical Mighty Sasquatch cake! I think he thinks now he can ask for any cakes he wants. LOL =P