Starting school and babies

Eliza starts school
Ww mentioned that Eliza's school uniform looked just like Elmo's...i just had to take a photo of her & Elmo. Got me laughing crazy when Ww pointed that out, days after we have gotten the uniform...and i didn't realize it at all.


Oh this was quite a while ago already...since the beginning of july. Except that she missed almost one entire week cos she was sick and we were worried that she will pass it on to other kids, since she herself got it from another kid.
So far the separation has been much better. During the first 2 days she was quite happy to go to school, after that it was downhill for a week. Everytime my mil brings out her uniform she'll run away...and she'll cry her way down. The good part is that she'll be sooo chirpy and happy when she's coming out, it's really quite fun to pick her up after school. The playschool is just 2 blocks away so it has the advantage of being so nearby.
We hadn't planned to put her in school so early, but seeing that my mil is so busy during the mornings, plus not always being able to guide her in her emotional & mental growth...hmm..in a way. We felt that getting Eliza to start some 2-hr playgroup would be a fun thing for Eliza (since she has been so 'on' about going to school). And at the same time it would be a good relief for my mil. Would have loved to put her in another school but it's so far away at Kembangan.

Every time we ask her what she learnt at school, she'll say some meow meow song (everytime!) so it's really hard to decipher what she did at school, other than the timetable we have from the school. This weekend, she told me of watching fireworks and i kinda caught her singing some song that sounded like the National Anthem..hahaa..this girl ah...always singing.

Eliza loves her older cousin but is apprehensive of her new baby girl cousin

I thought she did seem kinda disappointed that her cousins weren't here this weekend. My SIL needed to rest after her delivery so it's not a good time for them to come either.
Then we also realized that she is really not very warmed up to the baby either. She's really not a fan of babies and younger kids. She'll acknowledge the presence of the baby like "who cry?" but don't dare to get near the baby. Sometimes, i wonder if it's some bad experience with younger kids in the past or lack of exposure with younger kids and babies; or it's just her...that she's not a fan of babies at all.

The heart issue + dealing with a sick toddler

The heart issue...
Parenting is a heart issue. I love reading from this homeschooling mum, her insights on parenting, the stuffs she does with her kids. It's like learning from a mentor. I've learnt much from her and i love some of the things she writes in this entry.

"Proverbs 23:26 My son, give me thine heart, and let thine eyes observe my ways.
This is the secret formula to the successful passing on of values: the parent must have his child's heart. By that, I believe the Bible would be alluding to the child's affection, adoration, deep respect, and importantly trust that you love him and always have his welfare at heart. It is only when we have the heart of the child that the child will happily obey and observe and follow our ways- even when their flesh and sinful desires tell them otherwise. And when a child will be wise to obey his loving parents, therein will he find safety and protection and blessing. It is no coincidence that God also wants His children's hearts. "

"Importantly, love each child as unique individuals who have different talents and abilities, different weaknesses. Do not fall into the trap of measuring everyone by the same yardstick because not everyone can measure up the same way."

She also writes about dealing with a child hitting when he's angry, and for me it's Eliza throwing things when she is upset she's not getting her way. (no wonder we say people are childish when the get angry and throw things...i see a child in action like that!)
I realized that i have been focusing on her throwing things and i neglected to address her anger at not getting her way. This has been such a timely reminder about addressing the heart of the issue and not the behavior.
It's like an eureka moment. Thank God for guiding me to her blog, to reading this and i learn from it. Really. God's amazing.

At the same time i was also reading the Pupose driven life devotional today and the verse was also on the same matter.

A man's heart reflects the man. Proverbs 27:19 (NIV)
"Where did those interests come from? They came from God!
God had a purpose in giving you these inborn interests. Your emotional heartbeat is a key to understanding your shape for service. Don't ignore your interests; consider how they might be used for God's glory. There is a reason that you love to do these things."

Dealing with a sick toddler...
I wonder if being sick makes Eliza more irritable, more impatient, more prone to tantrums, sudden impulses, waking up more times at night etc. I feel like i tread the delicate line of giving her more slack cos she's having a runny nose/blocked nose and to still not give in on some of the rules and basic manners that we expect of her.
ie. she refuses to let me make the bed cos she wants to do it on her own...i let her, though not without her almost breaking into a upset-almost-going-to-fly-into-tears-and-rage mess. That little time frame between me saying and backing away from the issue at hand is sometimes just not fast enough. and her displeasure is only accented by her not being able to get what she wanted to do in the first place.

This is what i meant her being so touchy and ready to explode anytime.

Nowadays with more demands from her to do this, eat that, watch this now, do this now etc. There's a lot of distraction to be done, a lot of "No. Now now"s. I find myself being the bad guy around (as compared to my in-laws who are a lil more likely to give in than me).

This week is slightly better. I'm just praying that this is only a phase of due to her sickness and not so much of her character. Still it's a learning point for all of us, for her as well.

I just pray she gets well soon...it has been slightly over a week since she got sick last tuesday, and despite her cough and phelgmy-ness cleared, she's still having a slight runny nose that's disturbing her sleep at night. (which means my sleep gets disturbed too cos she'll keep waking up even after she has gone down for bedtime.) tonight she has woken up at least 4 times since she fell asleep earlier.

Nonetheless, she's still the cutie pie and full of fun :)

Learning to play together

I guess it is a part of growing up. Learning to socialize, to share, to play together. Even as i see Eliza's 4 & 6yr old cousins play, they're still learning! A lot of times we have to mediate between them and guide them to play without ending up in a fight or a load of complains.

I wonder if it's some of Eliza's experience with other kids who are younger than her, that she was very protective over the things she plays, or it's a developmental phase. She doesn't like to hang around younger kids or sometimes kids her age, as if she's wary that they will take the toys she's playing. Then she'll get very upset about the whole situation.
Or she'll take what a younger kid is playing and a whole tense situation will ensue as we'll be disapproving of her actions and get her to return the toy which she'll throw it or hold on even tighter.

Most of the time it ends in tears.

Now, what helps is to prepare her for the possible situation when some sharing while playing together is required. We help her to understand that she can say no to another kid who wants to take her toy or she can give the toy. And when she wants another kid's toy, to wait for her turn, to ask or to find another better toy, or to play together (a concept which i think will take a while to master).

It's not that she doesn't play nice...she'll generously pass a toy to another kid when encouraged to and when the kid isn't being mean or threatening to her. I've seen her wait really patiently for a little boy to finish playing the train tracks. The boy was playing forever...and when his parents tried once to distract him away he almost broke down. But Eliza continued to wait...she told herself, "wait for train". I think the parents was paishe that she was waiting so long that they eventually carried their son away from the toy to something else, not without protests from the little boy.

With some practice, with some guidance, with some wisdom, may God grow her to be a good friend, a kind and loving one.

Updating

Zoo Trip
We made 2 zoo trips this june holidays. One with a group of cell bro&sis (not our cell though but we join them in their outings from time to time), and another with Ww's school teachers for their recce for a school programme.

It's always fun to visit the zoo and see all the animals...i taught Eliza the song "we're going to the zoo, zoo, zoo" and the next day she's pestering me to bring her there again and pestering me to sing it to her to sleep. If it wasn't so far and expensive, i would be one of our regular weekend outings. ha!

Marriott Hotel stay

We thought we'll try staying at Marriott Hotel instead of Ritz Carlton this time round (using the Marriot rewards points). And had fun time mostly at the pool. We figured since we're STILL in singapore, we might as well make full use of the facilities, in the room and at the pool side so it's pool play as much as we can.

The wonderful thing about the pool is that the shallow pool part is quite a large portion and Eliza had great fun exploring, playing, "swimming".

We had my in-laws pop by before going for dinner together. I guess kids bring out the fun in grandparents eh?


After dinner we found that the chambermaids have so thoughtfully put the Marriott tiger beside Elmo on the bed, with Elmo's arm around the tiger too!

Eliza declared that the tiger's Elmo's friend :)

Eliza & painting
Almost a weekly or fortnightly activity we do on my weekends. We have progressed from just hand painting (or you can call it hand smearing), to using the paint brush, to painting the paint palette (or plate), to sponging (i only used one sponge and have yet to find a cheap nice sponge to cut shapes), to using the cookie cutter that i got for playdough-play to do stamping. see even i evolve during painting class...

She has also started to draw 'smiley' mouths to paint out a happy face.
Painting is a way to learn how to use the tools more than drawing real stuffs. I have been trying to teach her to hold the paintbrush properly (same goes for all other crayons and pens). She's also getting better at the "hand-printing". Now i see the handprint!

Eliza & Drawing
Eliza will ask us to draw things or we'll just spin out whatever doodles.
Here is daddy's drawing of Eliza driving a car...and Eliza wanted him to draw mummy, daddy, ah-ma, ah-gong.

So now you know why the people behind are so small

New stage of socialization

Just so i don't forget....from the time Eliza was aware of the people around her, not much people are lucky enough to carry her, or at least without her protesting violently. I kinda accepted that and didn't try to force her away. So if she takes to anyone carrying her, that's good; if she doesn't that so be it.
Recently after a visit to a friend's house, Eliza let my friend's hubby carry her...willingly. We told them, they must be really lucky. And then from CNY onwards, she was friendlier to people than she used to before. Nowadays, if you request to carry her, she would generally oblige.

This somehow just shows that on some things, kids just have their timing, as in when they are ready, they will be. Still it's not that easy to determine which are things that we let them naturally be ready to do stuff and which are the things we decide that they should do so. Take potty training, they will learn it when they are ready, yet if we don't provide the environment, will they learn it?

How about reading? I read stuff where people say that the right age is 6yrs, that we shouldn't rush them into it, that we should let their interest help them and not force them when they aren't ready. I've also ready stuff where many others say that the earlier the better. I like the earlier the better, but i guess 2.5yrs isn't the age they are ready anyway. I'm also starting to teach Eliza to listen to me finish reading the page, before flipping the page. We have enjoyed lots of spontaneity while reading. Nowadays, with familiar books, she tells me not to read them while she's readying -_-'

Stuff we do

"Very good very good"
Yesterday, Eliza had a trip with my in-laws to NTUC to buy groceries and they passed by the toy section. I'm not sure if my mil had planned to buy the toys for her or that she saw her so excited at seeing the toys that she wanted to buy something for her. Some of the toys must be quite high up so my mil pointed to a ironing toy set and asked her if that's the one she wants and Eliza replied "yes, yes. very good very good".
My mil was so amused by her that she just had to recount it to all of us a few times. I think Eliza must have found it quite fun to say that so I've been hearing it the whole day (or more like b4 i go out for work and when i came back)

SCO Children's Concert
This is Eliza's 2nd 'formal' concert. The first one was at Victoria Concert Hall with complimentary tickets given by Lynette. She was only about almost 12 months then...i think. When i saw one organized by SCO at quite an affordable price of $12 per person (yes Eliza has to pay too!), i just had to bring her. I know she loves music and somehow orchestras seem to captivate her quite a bit with the big group of people playing instruments together.



So i prepared her the night before, telling her that we're going to the concert etc etc. Too bad it was a friday, else Ww would have joined us as well.
Anyway the concert teaches kids about the terms for fast and slow in music & about conducting. Eliza wasn't paying much attention when all the talking was on, but when the music played she was moving or conducting away. The only 'inconvenience' was she saw the kindergarten kids going out of their seats and she asked me where they're going. I said that they're going the toilet and she wanted to go too! We went. She sat on the toilet bowl and declared that she was done. No pee. geee..
She had a good time i know. When i was explaining to her about an advertisement with an outdoor concert, she declared that she wanted to go to a concert. So now she has gotten the concept of a concert.

Helix Bridge Walk
So we did the usual stuff that most other Singaporeans did, walk the Helix bridge. We were just finding somewhere to go and something to do. It was a nice walk anyway, with Ww carrying her quite a bit cos she was scared. I can't remember what of.

Art park


Some hexagonal step lights that captivated her so much she didn't realize we were so far away.


Sungai Buloh
Yes we went there...i can't believe it is in such a ulu part of the world. Even the drive in was so ulu. My sil & her boys were there for a walk. And we were to join them though we were quite late.Eliza was still napping then but woke up after 1hr of nap cos the terrain was just too bumpy as we pushed the stroller. Anyway we saw squirrels, horseshoe crabs, lots of fishes, lots of monitor lizards. It was fun tho the route was just too long. I'll probably plan for another trip there someday. the 5hr walk to the freshwater pond sounds quite intimidating though.


Drawing
We're doing a lot of drawing...or more like Eliza giving us the crayon/colour pencil and asking us to colour/draw. It's her super favourite time cos maybe she has our attention during the drawing time.

I try to take photos of the drawings that we've made...usually with scribbles added by Ww, my mil and me...occasionally her cousins or our guests.

Recently she has taken a full love for painting...she super loved it when we did it during the parent-toddler class...now she'll mention it almost everyday, especially since we have been doing painting (from finger to hand to sponge to paintbrush painting) at home.

Stuff Eliza says and does
- She'll pat hers or our tummy and say "tummy big big" in her very funny way. So much for daddy getting her to say i'm fat!
- She saw the floor outside the kitchen toilet to be slightly wet and she asked "why so wet?" in the tone my mil would have said
- I was telling her that i'm going to work and she said "mummy come back", as if wanting me to come back immediately. so i had to convince her that i'll be back, at night.
- she/we farted and she'll in her very amused manner ask "who poot poot?!"

It's such a joy seeing my little girl grow up, hearing her talk (and hearing myself through her cos what i say, she picks it up and takes after me somehow), learning with her and knowing her. Ww & I will swoon over the stuff she has done that day and is obviously proud of her, like every parent would be.

Sleep talking

We always sleep around 3 hours after Eliza goes to sleep and i wonder if it's like the peak time for sleep talking because many-a-times we have been surprised by her talking in the middle of the night. Sometimes we can't make out what she said but we have heard her sing (jingle bells & the gongxi song). Ok the singing is just one phrase but it was hilarious enough for us to stop and try not to laugh too loudly. Awww...she's soo cute. I wonder what goes on in her dreams.

Recently, Ww and I was going into the room to sleep and we heard her longest sleep talk.
"I want to go playground. I want milk. I want to pee. I want to 大便." Oooohh!! hahaha! so cuttte :)

Well you can guess what we have been talking about all the time. :P