Writing, Reading, etc.

2 years, 11 months and 1 week old.....

There are some new developments on his writing/colouring and reading skills. He started colouring months ago and started to like it since then. On a good day, I can get 15 minutes of peace when he's in the mood to colour. In the beginning, he will coloured the whole page without following the picture lines. You can't see anything on the paper other than random colours. Just a few weeks back, I noticed that he can colour (almost) within the lines and you can (almost) see what is the thing he coloured.

I happened to buy a work book for colouring and writing (those alphabets with dotted lines) for him. I thought just let him colour and I will sit down one day and teach him to write some basic alphabets. Then on one fine day he took out the book and started colouring. I just let him be and did some chores. To my surprise, he traced along the dotted lines by himself. He also likes to draw lines. So, I bought a few more work books for him. This year, I'm determined to use up the RM1,000 allowance given for books for my income tax. So 'pissed' with Income Tax. I have even signed up for MPH member card. I've been contemplating to sign up before this but since I want to spend more on books this year, I've decided to sign up for it.

I drew a house with basic shapes for him to colour.
At least I can see a rectangle and a triangle after he coloured it.


Learning to write number 3.

An activity book I bought for him at MPH. It comes with
a marker but can be replaced with any white board marker
(non-permanent). You can write on it and wipe the ink off
easily with tissue paper thus can be re-used forever.


We just introduced him to online educational games
and he's hooked to it. Colouring is considered educational right?

As for reading, I also bought a few books for him during the recent book fair at PWTC. I always use book to lure him to go to bed so that he can settle down and sleep. I don't do it everyday lar coz sometimes I'm just too tired to read to him and attend to his 'WHY this, WHY that' questions. Sometimes, he will refuse to read also and want to play Ultraman with me. Just last night, I told him "Come we read book" and he said "We play first". So we played Ultraman. (He's Ultraman and I'm the monster).

Ok, I digress. Back to reading. At first, I read to him and he listens. Then, he started to ask questions. Later on, he learnt to read after me (his favourite being Humpty Dumpty). Now, he wants to read to me. He will point to the words and read in his own language. Although I don't understand his story, I'm glad that he likes book. Here's a short video clip on him reading. Don't worry if you don't understand what he reads coz you'll never will :-).

Costly Milk Powder

2 years, 3 weeks & 5 days old.....

Just before I left for Japan (about 3 weeks ago), we went to stock up Ethan's milk. He is taking Enfagrow A+. I would normally buy the milk from Chinese Medical Halls, which is much cheaper compared to the hypermarkets or supermarkets. At that time, I saw the new formula was already on the rack and my eye balls almost pop-out when I saw the price. It's an increase of RM5 per pack. The old pack was selling at RM54.50 (for 1.4 kg) and the new pack at RM60.50 (for 1.3kg) at that particular shop. That was before the petrol price went up.

Actually, if we calculate it properly, the increase is around RM10.00 per pack of 1.4 kg. It's sooooooo crazy to see the price being increased that much. Of course, it's justified by the claim of added nutrition e.g. 4x DHA, Inulin, FOS....bla bla bla. Still......It's not like we can choose between the two formulas. So, it's either Enfa or other milk now.

I'm wondering, does a kid need that much of DHA?? Too much DHA will not cause side effects?? Can they absorb them all?? or is this only a tactic to increase their price and to claim as the no. 1 milk powder in the market??

Ethan is 2!

24 months old.....



My baby is 2 today!!! Big deal for me. It has been 2 years but I still remember every moment of his birth. I've forgotten about the pain though (no epidural there). Although it has been tiring taking care of a demanding baby, then an active toddler, I never regret a single bit of it. I insisted to take care of him at night instead of sending him to a nanny 24 hours, by which I will have the luxury of undisturbed sleep. I'm glad I made the choice and I will go the same way 'IF' I have a second one. Errrr.....Don't know when the 'IF' will happen.

Some updates on Ethan:
Weight: (will check tonight)
Height: 84.5 cm

Milk:
He is taking more milk now. 8 oz. each feed. 4-5 feeds a day. He normally drinks at 9.30 p.m. and if he sleeps late, he will ask for another round, sometimes at 10.30 p.m. (just 1 hour after the previous feed).

Still taking his early morning feed, usually at around 4-5 a.m.

Meal:
He is very Asian. Must have rice or noodles. When we go out, we must go to Chinese restaurant or any other restaurants that serve rice or noodles with soup. He dislikes bread, cakes, cheese and Western food. He takes French toast sometimes.

Still taking porridge at the nursery. On weekends, I normally boil soup for the family. For Ethan, I will boil noodles and then add the soup base (my version of soup noodles). He likes it better than porridge. I guess he gets bored with 5 days of porridge already. For dinner he will have soup and rice. Sometimes I will steam fish for him too.

He dislikes vegetables and most of the fruits. He only takes banana and papaya sometimes. When he has constipation, I give him half a bottle of Vitagen. A bottle will cause loose stool.

For supplement, he is still taking Scott's Emulsion everyday.

Sleeping time:
He sleeps late now. On weekdays, he naps around 2 hours at the nursery and will sleep at around 10pm at night.

On weekends, he naps at 3pm! Sometimes at 4.30 p.m.!! He normally takes 3 hours of nap and will sleep very late at night. Earliest is 11pm.

Speech:
He says quite a lot of words and picks up fast too (have to mind my words there) but not all are pronounced perfectly. Sometimes, he got so frustrated when we couldn't understand what he said. The funny ones are:

• di di yen = little lamb (which means he wants the song book with the song 'Mary had a little lamb' and wants me to sing. Took quite some time for us to figure this one out)
• bring bring = guitar
• ah ger = tiger
• ah bern = elephant

He can't count yet. He will start with 'one' then continue counting with his own numbers in his own language.

Pre-school:
He was upgraded to the oldest group at the nursery (most of them are 3 years old) and a teacher was hired to teach them. He is coping quite well but sometimes will cry in the middle of activities so they will transfer him back to the younger group (no teacher, free activities).

He did a few crafts with the help of the teacher. I don't know which part he actually did but I think 99% were done by the teacher. Some of the crafts he did: