Little 时旭

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 ?

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

人之初，性本善。

性相近，习相远。

苟不教，性乃迁。

教之道，贵以专。

昔孟母，择邻处。

子不学，断机杼。

窦燕山，有义方

。。。。。。。

I notice that Shi Xu can do recitation quite well. He can recite National pledge , sing the full nursery rhyme , recite stories .For the stories i read to him , he can memorise the sentenses on each page.Sometimes people thought he can read (when he looks at the picture in the story book, he will read the sentence EXACTLY same as that page).In fact he is reciting the sentence by looking at the picture on each page .( he is doing picture reading , not word reading) .By now , he still can't read words by himself .

By notice this , I decide to introduce him 三字经 .He picks up 三字经 quite fast . By now he can recite some of it (video above) .I am thrilled to no end with this .

Welldone, my boy ! Mummy is proud of you .

**Shi Xu @ 34 months old

We went to Singapore National museum on last Sunday .It was our first museum visit .

In conjuction with museum opening day and school holiday , National Museum of Singapore was hosting an array of performances, workshops and activities .We actually were not so much on touring the museum,but to attend some children themed programmes organised by the authority.
Shi Xu was wearing the drama costume . ..

After having fun with the animal costume ,we went upstair and saw a lot of children in the art and craft workshop .Shi Xu sound thrilled and wanted to join in.

Shi Xu was busy coloring his fishes .

Our fish art was done !

Lastly we proceeded to History Gallery .We were provided a portable audio system .Every display item or segments will have numbers displayed on the floor, or next to artifact .We are supposed to press the “number”on the audio system , then it will do the explanation. We spent quite some times in the gallery .

I would say this museum trip is a valuable education tour and we will definately visit again .

**Shi Xu @ 34 month old

Last Friday when i reached my in law house , my little boy had already been waiting for me at doorstep ,welcome me with a flower made by him and greeted me loudly "HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!" . I really got surprise!!

He gave me another surprise in short while .A necklace made of macaroni.He wanted to put on his handmade necklace for me ! At that moment , my heart almost melt instantly.
These are the presents from Shi Xu......

I was wearing his macaroni necklace . does it look nice ?

Perhap he made the presetns with the help of school teacher , but I was totally overwhelmed by the surprise he gave me . They are too precious for me , nothing beat his handmade presents .

On mother's day , we had a wondeful day out ( brunch at Epicurious , catch a movie , visited zoo and had dinner specially prepared by daddy ) .With the precious persents from my little boy and daddy and the wonderful time we had ,I can never be happier .
This year i have a wonderful and unforgetable mother's day :)

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY !!

Shi Xu @ 33 months old

School teacher feedback to me ,when she touched on the topic of occupation and asked the children talk about the work of their parents ,Shi Xu said his mummy is a nurse !

Well, the reason behind he said so is due to our flash cards and pretend play .
Few months back , I did flash cards on the topic of occupation and we also had pretend play of it after that .
He likes to be a doctor and always ask me to be his nurse and patient.Sometimes he pretends he is pilot and ask me to be stewardness to serve him drinks in "plane' .
we do enjoy our pretend play .
and now school touch on this topic again , that's the reason why he said his mummy is a nurse .(but I wonder why he never say his mummy is stewardness :P)

**Shi Xu @ 33 months old

27 April marked the 10th anniversary of our courtship.How time flies , we have been in love for a decade !

Needless to say , we celebrated this special day togather with our lovely boy for sure.In fact ,we did not go anywhere as daddy has exam on next day .(we postpone our day out to coming weekend ) .nonetheless , we still have a decent meal out at Marina Mandarin Hotel .

Daddy ate his favourite oysters to his heart's content (Gee...he ate >18 oysters ! )

Shi Xu enjoyed his chocolate

Do we look cool with our personalized family tee ?(Prince Shi Xu ,Daddy and Mummy)hehe ....

My little camera man was busy shooting photo everywhere (I pass on my old Canon IXUS camera to him .He was so happy and excited that he tried out different shots with it ) . He was indeed helpful to daddy and me when we need a camera man to take photo for us .Others found him hilarious when they saw a small toddler trying to be our camera man busy taking photo at hotel lobby and restaurant .

These are some of the photos taken by Shi Xu .Hey, his shots were surprisingly not bad (I mean he still managed to capture our faces but not floor or table only :P)

** Shi Xu @ 33 months old

Shi Xu start loving lego and never get tired of having fun at it .He is getting more creative now . Couple of days ago , I gave him a "base " and pieces of lego and i off to take my shower .

I notice that he starts understanding the concept of symmetry as well .( look at the orange color headlights on both sides , the dark blue and white color on both side of his car and the 2 black color backlights ) .That's amazing !

The other days , he made a gun by himself as well .

It doesn't stop here ,daddy had made 2 nice robots and this inspired him to make a robot by himself.It’s always interesting to see how far their imagination can soar.

This is Shi Xu's robot ..

and these are daddy's robot

whose robot is nicer and more creative ?

**Shi Xu @ 33 months old

Shi Xu :"mummy , i tell u a SECRET "
Mummy : "OK "
Shi Xu :(he whispered in my ear) " I put the goldfish in tank ,Clore feed the goldfish , BUT the fish never eat ,MAYBE the fish will die "
** is this a secret ??

Shi Xu : "I am very strong "
Mummy : "Why ? "
Shi XU : "BECAUSE i eat rice ! "

I was eating biscuit on sofa ....
Shi Xu : "Mummy , you can not eat biscuit on sofa ,later sofa dirty ,eat on floor . "
Mummy : "ok ! "
**I feel like i am his little gal .haha ...

It is fun to hear a 2.75 years old todder using conjunction like "maybe " , "because/因为" , "but " ,and "如果 " (I can't remember what he said using 如果 ).
How time flies , my baby has grown up to be a little boy who always talks as an adult !

I like to use various activities/objects to teach Shi Xu the concept of opposite/comparison and he enjoy learning them .

By now he know far/near , long/short , tall/short , clean/dirty , big/small , up/down , left/right , more/less , cold/hot , day/night , happy/sad , fast/slow , heavy/light ,wet/dry ,narrow/wide etc .

Sometimes I am glad to see him exercises with opposites in his daily activities .

"papa is TALL , Shi Xu is SHORT " ,
" mummy is BIG , Shi Xu is SMALL " ,
" i am FAR away , you can not reach me " or " I am NEAR now , you can reach me " ,
"this is HAPPY face " ( he makes a happy face ) , " this is SAD face " ( makes sad face ) ,
"this dudu (pacifier ) is DIRTY " ,after i clean it , he will say "my dudu is CLEAN now " ,
"papa' hand is LONG , Shi Xu's hand is SHORT"
When we are cycling , he will say " I am FAST , mummy is SLOW " ,
and the list goes on ,we make learning opposites easy and fun !

**Shi Xu @ 2.75 years old

Some weeks back , the father and son were pretty busy with their new "lego project" . They could occupy themselves with hours fixing up the lego pieces .Shi Xu loves vehicles , so they fixed up quite number of vehicles .
Here are some of them : farm tractor , helicopter ,ferry , fire engine .

And here is another farm tractor

Shi Xu likes this car most . The car doors can even be opened ! That is cool !

At the beginning , Shi Xu was just an "assistant" of daddy ,by now he can fix some small parts like wheels ,steering wheel , change the car's bumper and bodykit according to his favor .

The other day , i gave Shu Xu a lesson for his misbehavior and he was very unhappy with it .

Shi Xu : Stupid !
Daddy : Can not say mummy stupid !
Shi Xu : Mummy is butterfly, butterfly is stupid .
mummy & daddy : ..........

hmm .. he is using Algebra !
A(mummy)=B(butterfly) ,
B(butterfly)=C(stupid) ,hence
A(mummy)=C(stupid)

I was really impressed with his "algebra rule " ,but i was also quite disturbed by his rude manners .

**Shi Xu @ 32 months old

I just love these images of him ..

Adorable and infectious :

Bob the builder :

Fireman :

Yoda? :

Naive look :

Moto-racing driver:

**Shi Xu @ 32 months old

I have been doing flash card with Shi Xu for months and still keep it as our routine ( at least 2-3 times per week ) .Our flash card routine is not smooth sailing , he attention span is pretty short ,he usually get bored very quickly ,so this does not come easily for me.Often at time ,I have to take times to coax him to sit down and listen to me .

Some weeks back ,his mood crept up .He started to make sentences when i was flashing the set of cards " building and places "

Mummy:office !
(he stopped me proceeding to the next card ,to my surprise ,he wanted to make sentence for each card)
Shi Xu : mummy go to office work work
Mummy: School !
Shi Xu : Shi Xu go to school study
Mummy :Castle !
Shi Xu : Disneyland has castle
Mummy :Airport terminal !
Shi Xu : We go to airport terminal (see) aeroplane
Mummy : Post office !
Shi Xu : Aunty post (he meant aunty go to post office post letter )
Mummy: Playground!
Shi Xu : I want to play see saw (missing the word" at playground" )

The list goes on ...
I was glad that he could enjoy the flash card session with me and able to express what relates to the topic.I truly enjoy this bonding/learning time .It’s such a lovely day.

** Shi Xu @ 32 months old

I have never watched any 3D movie before , so is Shi Xu .
Last few days we finally got the chance to catch our first 3D movie - How do train your dragon
(Can see the difference ? my first 3D show is AFTER my 30 while my boy 3D show is BEFORE his 3 !! )
Well, that is the difference between my generation and his generation which born into this digital world !

Shi Xu kept telling me that he was scared when we entered to the theatre , but i still could see that he couldn't wait to watch the show . We were completely elated when we got our 3D glasses . What made me tick was at the moment we helped him put on the 3D glasses and the show started ,he was COMPLETELY STILL and never move at all (at the first 30 minutes) .I wonder he was too excited of the 3D effect that couldn’t keep his eye off or was frighten by the 3D animation .He truly looked fun to me ,especially when I look at his funny look -> SMALL face putting on a BIG 3D glasses ,I almost burst out laughing .

After 30+ minutes ,he was frighten by some scenes and requested daddy to carry him . He took off his 3D glasses and refused to put on again .Perhap the 3D effect made him feel like his is part of the movie and made him uncomfortable .

On the other hands , i was extremely enjoyable watching the 3D movie ,what i could think was "WOW!"when I put on the 3D glasses. I was over-whelmed by the realness of the scenes and it is totally awesome to me .Having said that it is a great experience .

This is our "souvenir" from our first 3D movie . hehe...

**Shi Xu @ 32 months old

2 days ago , Shi Xu asked for drawing . So i gave him a piece of paper and a pen .
Shi Xu : I draw a big circle . ( drawing the "head" )
Mummy : What are you drawing ?
Shi Xu : cat !
Mummy : ha?
Shi Xu : 猫 ! ( He thought i didn't get him )
Shi Xu : I draw small circles ( drawing the "eyes" )
Mummy : Does cat have nose and mouth ?
Shi Xu : Yes! ( started drawing the 2 lines for "mouth " and "nose " )
After the mouth and nose , he drew 2 more lines (outside the "head" )
Mummy : Then what are these ? ( pointing the 2 lines )
Shi Xu : Ears !
I thought it was done so i got my camera ready . Shi Xu was still busy drawing ...he was drawing the curly lines on top of the "head "
Mummy : What are these? ( pointed at the curly lines )
Shi Xu : Hair !
Haha......this is his "cat " (above ) . Oh well , i think this look more like human face than a cat , isn't it ?

so on the next few minutes , i was busy capturing his drawing , while i had finished the photo shooting , he had done the other drawing and he named it as "cat " as well .

I think this more look like Hello Kitty .


He didn't stop here , he did another drawing..... and guess what is this ?

Fish!
He is unbeatable cute .I was definately amazed that he get to draw animals at his young tender age .He makes me gleaming with pride .

Shi Xu @ 32 months old

Children are naturally curious about the world around them.

Last night Shi Xu looked up at the sky and stared at the Moon in wonder,he asked me why we can see the moon at night.I stumped by his question again . Daddy is always the person who will answer his question . daddy told him because the Sun’s light shines on it.But I think the answer is too brief!

It is not easy to explain the moon to a 2.5 years old toddler . After back home , we searched some information from internet and used his 3 different size of balls ( to be Sun , Moon and Earth ) and share with him how we can see the moon .I have no idea how much he can understand it but at least let him grasp a deeper knowledge about his world.

I am wondering what is the next question now .We are feeling the joy of seeing him make some amazing progress.His learning journey is filled with joy and fun and so we are .

**Shi Xu @ 31 months

lately we are bombarded with so many questions(or perhap answers ?) from my little boy.Sometimes we really need to think hard to answer his questions .But we truly enjoy the conversation with him .

Here are some tricky yet funny Q & A we had

Case 1 :
Shi Xu :爸爸，fish 有没有喝水？

爸爸： 有！ (**very confident answer **)

Mummy : ........

( i remained hesitant to answer because i do not know the answer ! )

Isn't it a funny yet tricky question ? I asked around and I got different answers. My brother said fish do not drink water but use their skin to absorb water , while my husband insisted that fish do drink water . Both sound logical .(then what is the correct answer? ) we stumped by the scientific question posed by my little boy .

Well ,my collegue got the answer from internet ,here is the explanation .

"Fresh water fish absorb water through their skin and gills, saltwater fish actually do drink water.
In saltwater fish, they have to drink because their body's concentration of salt is lower than the surrounding water. Therefore, they have to drink huge amounts of water every day to stay hydrated.
In freshwater fish, their salt concentration is higher than that of the surrounding water, and, as osmosis dictates, they absorb water through their highly permeable skin. To keep from bursting, freshwater fish actually have to excrete water, up to 10 times their body weight daily, unlike saltwater fish. "

Case 2 :
The other day ,we were chatting on the bed ..

Shi Xu : 爸爸 can not fly ,mummy can not fly , Shi Xu also can not fly .

Mummy : Why we can not fly ?

I expected he would give me the answer something like "because we are not bird ", however....

Shi Xu : no more wings! ( he always misuse "no more " as "don't have " )

He caught me by surprise!I was COMPLETELY shocked.Where on earth did he understand that we can't fly without wings!?

First , i would like to apologize to my little boy .

This morning , i got him changed a pretty baggy school uniform shorts and that time i still wonder would it slip down when he jump or run .But i still let him put it on. (what a bad mum :P )

And it really happened as i thought !
Here is our conversation after he came back from school ...

Shi Xu : 我的裤子掉下来，everybody laugh you know ? (he grinned when he shared this )
Daddy : 哦！你的裤子掉下来！为什么你的裤子掉下来 ？
Shi Xu : I ran to playground then 我的裤子掉下来.
Daddy : Who laugh at you ?
Shi Xu : Sarah , Cayen laugh , Ayden never laugh , Ayden happy ...(**fainted** )

I can imagine how embarrassed he was feeling that time .Would he find himself humiliating moments where his peers all laughed at him ?I hope he was not .( I think he was alright as he still can share this experience with grin ,probably he take it as a funny story to share with us ) .

Anyway embarrassing moments are something that every one of us will face also. Hope he can get over this.

**Shi Xu @ 30.5 months

After our visit to Hong Kong Disneyland ,city tour , Victoria Peak ,finally we made our way to Hong kong Ocean Park .


It has plenty of thrilling rides on the headland (more suitable for adults ) and interesting rides ,show and games for children at Kids' World .It never fail to impress us .

This is the latest ocean express ,travel from Ocean Park’s Waterfront to the Summit .It is thrilling and fun!

We got the chance to meet the Asia’s rarest animals including giant pandas and red pandas as well .

We also can see the expanse of the marvelous maritime landscape comprised of Atoll Reef, Shark Aquarium, Ocean Theater, Ocean Park Tower ,Jelly fish Aquarium and among others.

(Atoll Reef entrance )


(sea horse in Atoll reef )


(sting ray in Atoll Reef)


(Nemo in Atoll reef )


(pacifier pier )

We took the cable car down from marina land to Lowland Gardens .The cable cars take us on a very pleasant ten minute ride over two mountains.The ride is high (but not scary )and the views out over the South China Sea are absolutely breathtaking .

We spend a wonderful day in Ocean Park , it was an energy draining and yet enjoyable day .

The next day we were ready to go back to Singapore , overall our Hong Kong trip was so enjoyable and funfilled.We definately miss this wonderful trip !

**Shi Xu @ 30 months