Guess whose birthday is it ? keke ... is my old man's birthday .
Happy birthday daddy ! (by the way this year his birthday fell on the same day with dumpling festival )
We took half day leave catching a movie and went to pick up our little boy so that he could join the celebration . Daddy said he can never be happier to see his little boy says "SURPRISE!!" excitedly when see us appear in school at noon time ( he usually takes school bus back in evening , so it is a bonus for him if we go to pick him up earlier ) .He was so ecstatic when saw us came to pick him . Occationally, We like to take half day leave to give him such "surprise” and it definitely lights up his day.
We dont have special program other than visit the airport. ( we are regular visitor as he likes roaming around the airport and playing with other children at the playground in T3 )
After dinner , the father and son went to choose "their " birthday cake . Since Shi Xu enjoys singing birthday song , blowing out candles and making wish, so we have to buy a cake for him (note: not for daddy) .and here is the cake they chose - thomas the trains .
Shi Xu takes this cake as the present he gives to daddy .hehe ... Bye the way ,he started reminding me July is his birthday and requests to have ultraman/thomas train/transformer/ben 10 birthday cake for his birthday. *start scratching my head where to get these cartoon character cake * .** shi Xu @ 35 months old
Dumpling festival, also known as dragon boat festival,which traditionally celebrated during the 5th day of the 5th month on the lunar calendar. Shixu’s school teacher had arranged a session to let the children make rice dumpling together . Shi Xu got the chance to make his first rice dumpling too!!! At the end of the day, they are supposed to put their rice dumpling on a folded paper boat and bring it home for their to parents .
When we went to pick up shi xu on that day , he presented to us his first rice dumpling proudly and requested to go to the beach !
Shi Xu : Mummy , I want to go to the beach ?
Mummy : Why ?
Shi Xu : Because i want to throw dumpling into the sea !
At first ,I was puzzled , but later on i got what he mean .He was talking about the story of Qu Yuan ! I believe teacher had shared the Qu Yuan's story with him . Qu Yuan sacrificed his life by jumping in to the Milo River , people in old time believed that by throwing the rice dumpling into the river ,and fish would eat the rice dumpling and it would stop the fish from eating Qu Yuan’s body.
Anyway happy belated dumpling festival !
**Shi Xu @ 34.5 months old
He first met buzz lightyear in our Hong Kong disneyland trip .
The other day , we went to Swenson for our breakfast , at the entrance , there was a Buzz lightyear for photo taking .(they are promoting Toy Story 3 ) .I immediately snap a photo of him .
I like this photo , he looks cheerful and happy .
**shi Xu @ 34.5 months old
Lately ,I stumble upon a mummy bento blog . I was inspired by her creativity on bento making and I attempt to make a simple bento for my lovely boy .
I bought some cutters from Daiso , a multi face expression seaweed puncher from a online shop,and I prepared some bread , cheese ,ham and nori .
I cut the cheese ,bread and ham with the cutters to make the shapes( some of the ham to make the ears/nose as well ) , then I put the bread beneath the cheese/ham.Lastly I added the details ( eye , nose ,mouth,ribbon etc ) with punched nori .Sound simple right ?
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Sadly to say that Shi Xu shown no interest to my bento .(Probably my bento looks too plain/simple and not so interesting .I did not buy any bento box and just simple put on the plate without any decoration ) .
I spent times to coax him eating all up haha ...
I love to buy educational games as I believe they are the best developmental toys for a toddler and they make learning fun .We play the educational games when we are free.We enjoy playing with them as they challenge our mind and help in logical thinking . We play Noddy Fun book , Logico , space memory games , linking memory ,mandala ,tangram puzzles , Noddy time shock puzzle (block puzzle) ,instant memory game , lego ,ESP games etc
Noddy Fun book ( use in shicida class as well )
It includes 10 books with different units such as numeral, mathematics, shape, color, time, animal, plant, weather, upper and lower case .It helps to enhances skills in language, mathematics, space, body activity, music, interpersonal relationships, introspection and natural observation . It also encourages cognitive abilities ,develops motor skills & hand-eye coordination
Logico (German educational games )
Suitable from 3-7years old ( we buy full set) .Logico is a very good set of education game that allows the child to learn logic and knowledge.Its fun games and colorful activity cards tickle and challenge kids. It trains visual discrimination, pattern awareness, sorting and classifying, sequencing a story, number sense,memory ,IQ and much more.
I love logico and noddy fun book so much . They are definately much more fun than normal activitiy books for preschooler and most importantly ,children enjoy playing them (and they are learning!)
Linking memory (top)
Again , this is very good for memory . I started introducing linking memory to him in Jan (but we stopped it after that as he shown no interest in it ,thus i gave him a 2 months break and tried again in March . He seem ok with it after the break ) .
When doing linking memory , we point to the pictures while listening to the Linking Memory CD , and then I turn over the original sheet and give him the pieces of pictures , ask him arrange the pictures in correct order base on his memory . We usually do 10 pictures first and proceed to 20 , 30 and so on . We have completed 3 sets and now doing the 4th set . Practice makes perfect , i can see that as we do more , his memory improve tremendously .Now he easily can make 45/50 correct , his highest score is 49/50 (child is supposed to memorize 50 cards per set in the correct order). I am glad that our efforts have paid off .
Mandala (left bottom)
I started Mandala 2 months ago ,but only do it once a week.I flash the Mandala picture for 3 seconds and the screen will be blank out (the interval must be very short) .Then I ask Shi Xu to put on the colour to a piece of paper where it has the outline of the Mandala picture shown before.In our first Mandala game , he couldn't remember the color correctly , but as we practise more(use different pictures ),he can do it quite well now .Most of the time, he can put on the correct color by just looking at the picture for 3 sec .Mandala is good in training photographic memory .
Memory board (right bottom)
It is good for brian stimulation and perfect memory.It comes with 2 metallic boards ( one for parent and one for the child) and magnetic tiles.
It has different way to play , one of them is randomly put some picture on different box and show it to the child for 3-5 seconds(the interval must be short) , then turn over the board ,give the empty metalic board to the child and ask him put the pictures at the correct box base on his memory.I noticed that Shi Xu start having spatial awareness ( eg: There is 12 boxes on the board ,I randomly put 4 cards at 4 different boxes (NOT in a line ), he can put 4 of them in correct row and column but sometimes the pictures may not 100% correct ) .We still need more practice on this .
Tangram and block puzzle
Puzzle is always an enjoyable brain training game. Shi Xu enjoy playing tangram puzzle and block puzzle as well .
Lego
Child can develop creativity through playing with lego. Shi Xu loves playing lego and he plays with daddy almost everyday . There is their precious bonding time .
**Shi Xu @ 34 months old
We have bought Shi Xu a battery operated racing car during GSS .He was over the moon that day and squealed in delight .
When daddy assembled the car , he found there was a small part (flower ring) missing ,called to ToyRus and they feedback that only can collect the missing part after few days .
In order not to let him down , daddy went to so many hardware shops to find the parts but was in vain . Ended up he DIY the small flower ring by himself .
Shi Xu jumped with excitement, gleaming with delight when his car was finally assembled.
The next day he drove his new car downstair and his face beamed with joy and happiness .He was so delighted and excited in driving around his car .
My home is full of cars now . Battery operated red racing car, scooter , tricycle ,Little Tikes Grand Coupe ,and countless Hot Wheel toy cars & Tomica cars . He is truly a BIG fan of cars .I wonder if my home will install a ERP or draw the road line in one day :P
**Shi Xu@ 34 months old
