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chinon13
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Interests: Chilling out in my small apartment. Listening to Music. Traumatising Japanese students with English. Singing Karaoke. Infatuated with my cute Japanese students. Eating tonnes and tonnes of good food. Freezing to death in Japan rocks!
Expertise: Things to do here:
- Wine Trail
- Travel
- Museum hops
- Concerts
Occupation: Other
Industry: Other
Message: message me
Website: visit my website
MSN: Caihui
Member Since:
7/27/2004
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| JLPT is finally over...
One word: Disappointed.
Sigh. My first two sections shouldn't be a problem. Reading was a killer - my time management was bad and I panicked. There goes the points....
Let's just hope I can scrape through...shall wait for the results in the post next year.
Anyway, Elyza's birthday came and went. She's finally TWO!! There were two simple celebrations - with the paternal and maternal respectively.
She was thrilled by all the birthday singing and blowing of candles - one of her favourite activities thus far. She also received this wonderful set of cleaning toys which is bringing out the janitor in her. She loves to mimic cleaning. Everyday, you will see her busy with her brush and dustpan. Or bringing the rag with her, go down on all four to clean the floor (and then proceed to use same rag to wipe her face!!!???)
Her speech is more developed now. She can tell you what she saw and take part in meaningful (albeit short) conversations. She's really funny. But very violent too. Sigh.
I love to see her holding phone conversations . She likes to press the phone to her ear, say, "Hullo? BLEH BEH BLEH()#*Okay, Byebye!". Her "Okay Byebye" is always super rushed, like an adult wanting to end a phone conversation quick.
 3 more days before Daddy's back.
Then off to Potter Land we go!!
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| Forgot to add something.
Speech/ Diet changes
She's recently learned to say the word "Yuck!". Gosh. I think it's probably from the telly...And she uses it quite often as she becomes more aware of the taste and texture of the morsels that slide into her little mouth. She is still as gluttony as ever, but if you try giving her something mushy, she will respond with a "yuck!" and spit it out.
Nice.
Now I really need to rack my brain on what to cook for her when we move to Oxford next Jan.
Potty Training
She's almost there, though i can't do a definite YES! with fist in the air. We are diaper-less in the day except for nap times. She is still learning to let us know when she needs to pee and is making very good progress. There are still the occasional oppsies every day, largely due to adult negligence, unforeseen huge intake of water or when she is extremely sucked into the telly. No big issues - not carpet so its fine. Besides, my mum is always around, so someone can always jaga her while the other go grab a rag to wipe things up in case she starts stepping and playing with her pee.
She's taking 2 in 2 weeks time! I'm really proud that she is off diaper before she reaches two! Although it will be long before we can wean her off nap and night time diapers, I'm happy with what she has achieved.
It's really important to push through a new skill when the child exhibits signs that she is ready. I tried earlier in August (i think) and my overly harsh reactions made her nervous about the whole training process and it backfired. Revisiting this training 2 months later yielded so much better results.
Alphabet
I dare say she recognises all 26 letters of the alphabet. Although she is still mixed up between M and W and insisted that W is M. M is still M.
She can point to random letters correctly as requested and she can remember most of the phonetic sounds too, thanks to the leapfrog Letter Factory DVD.
Here are the resources we used for our alphabet learning sessions:
1. magnetic letters made of foam (EVA)
2. Leapfrog Letter Factory DVD for letter and phonetic sounds recognition
3. Chicka Chicka Boom Boom for the wonderful story and catchy rhyme
4. ABC song (to the tune of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star) helps reinforcement
She is also ready to learn at this stage so everything just progress fast and naturally. Like I said, i realised the importance of introducing something when the child is ready for it.
Now she continues to play with the magnetic foam letters and still love her Chicka book. She likes to point out the different letters on prints - newspapers, books, advertisements, basically everywhere.
What's next? I guess numbers recognition is next on the list!
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| 2 more weeks to my exam and i'm feeling so inadequate. This is NOT GOOD.
Update of my status:
- 2 weeks away from JLPT 1
- Purchased tickets onboard SQ, departing for London on 8th Jan 2010
- Visa applications submitted online, need to submit hard copy to the VAC
Now, on Elyza.
Speech:
She is babbling NON STOP. Most of the time, she likes to mimic. So now is the time to watch those words. She can say a whole string of words without me understanding a single one.
Her fav phrase:
我要吃
我要suuuuu - Making slurping sound. I always correct her to say, "我要喝“
need now - sit down
Problem is, whenever i sit down proper to log these down, I can't recall anything.
Yday, she started to say yuan quan (circle), albeit all her words are, in my mum's lingo, very chao nee dai.
New Activities
Drawing! Boy, does she love to draw. I think her circles are very beautiful. Her paternal granny taught her to draw balloon with a string and she really enjoys doing that. Now, I will draw the balloon and she, the string. She likes to go, "balloon, string. Balloon, string". Of course, only I understand what she is saying.
My mum taught her to draw dots. Basically tapping the pencil on paper and go "dot, dot, dot, dot." She loves doing that and will break into laughter whenever she starts dotting after drawing her circles.
When I take away her colour pencils, she will shout, "DRAW! DRAW! DRAW!"
Another new found activity is - Play Doh. When she says play doh, it sounds like video. Initially I kept thinking she wants to watch video...?!? Until my mum suggested that it could be play doh.
Most of the time, I'm one having a blast of a time. I've made a cat, butterfly, bunch of bananas, ball, fish.......you get the drift. She will knead the dough, cut them, poke them and request that I open up the new tubs of colours that were waving to her.
Seriously, I think she enjoys the cleaning up session more than the actual play time. When we keep the playdoh and tools together, we will sing the clean up song. She happily joins in to clean up (can someone pop the champagne?). After that, she will exclaim, "left, right! left, right!!!"
Let me explain what this means. The first time we played with play doh. I taught her that we must wipe the table after that. We took a piece of kitchen towel, wet it and wiped from "left to right" and chanting that at the same time. She got the hang of things and now she loves wiping.
Just like how she loves to clean the floor. I have a video of her using a rag to clean the floor. Must remember to post if up. This is the age where she enjoys helping around and being curious at the things we do. I will try not to deny her this learning opportunity as long as it is safe enough for her and sane enough for me.
Books
Now, Chicka and the rest of the "hot" books mentioned in the earlier entries are taking a back seat. Her fav books are this series of Chinese picture books that originated from Japan.
I love the books too. Typical of Japanese books, the illustrations are beautiful. I love how each mini book teaches something - 刷牙。收起来，睡觉，我会穿短裤啦，谁哭了，过生日. She can remember the title and cover of each book well. Sometimes I spread out a couple of them on the floor and ask her to choose one. She will put her hand on a particular book and say "ku le" and I'm surprised she's always right! Like if she wants to read "shou qi lai", she can direct the correct book to me. I thought the chinese characters would look all the same to me, but kids are really sponges that absorb new information fast. I wish I'm a kid too.....
I'm really glad she enjoys reading. I still remember one night she was throwing a tantrum, not wanting to sleep. I told her to choose some picture books and I will read to her. Her face immediately break into a smile and she was so delighted - so was I!
Oh, another new story. This is something that I learned from TV. The 5 little monkeys and a crocodile story. It's a storytelling clip by this indian lady and I loved it so much that I recite to E very often. She loves to engage in the different actions involved, especially the SNAP part when the crocodile eat up the monkeys. The story is a little morbid, but which fairy tale doesn't involve someone eating someone up? Hahahaha.
Ok, its a mircale she's not UP yet...i've finally managed to post this up.
Photos will follow at a later time.
TATA!!
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| Didn't manage to update last Tues coz she only napped for 15 mins. Well, partly my fault. After Atlantis with her cousins, she was so sleepy that she fell asleep on my shoulders while i was carrying her and walking to the money changer in Clementi. She was sooooo drowsy that when i put her down, she was sleeping while standing! Wasn't trying to be mean but I didn't the extra hand to take out my wallet.....
So hailed a cab back and she was really dead asleep. BUT...since her clothes were all wet from perspiration, I had to change her out and I thought, hey, give her milk while she is still drowsy and she will knock out for another hour or two....or....NOT. She was up and about. Sigh. It was a very, very trying day last Tues coz there was ZERO break and nobody was home till 8pm. Boy, I really wished Da was still in SG then.
 With her fav cousins.
Esp jie-jie.
She went all berserk when she saw her that day
and jiejie was a little taken aback by her warmth...hahahahha.....
 The day where she only napped for 15 mins.
After an hour of fun at Atlantis.
 After breakfast with ah ma, ah gong, yiyi, yipo and lao yi teo
Yiyi with her swollen bak jiam eye.
 At the cake shop.
Frightened the jiejie away with her over-friendliness.
She tried to hug her.
 Waving byebye to lao yi teo but note that he has already cycled away.
She is afraid of him.
 Happily munching on her icecream cone which she got from the
vendor downstairs.
She heard the bell and was so excited the ice cream man is here!
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Anyway, it has been challenging ever since not because I did not receive any help, but because, she is going into a defiant mode. Towards me. Thank you.
When i say one, she goes two. I say no, she goes YES. I say stop, she continues. All in the name to make mummy SNAP. And hell yeah I did.
Really beat her up really badly last Tues coz she just refused to come out of the bathroom. Any forms of cajole and threat do not help. So, i snapped. And I really hate it when i snap coz it means I have lost. URGH.
I beat her on her calf really hard, and i bruised my left middle finger. I bet she was shocked. I was shocked too. But when your patience is running low on supply, this is what happens. Even the Buddha has a temper (pls think in Mandarin). I think I've been trying too hard to avoid physical punishment and have been stretching my patience beyond my threshold. And when things accumulate, they really erupt with a big bang. I feel like those tectonic plates under Sumatra and ever since my major eruption, there's been quite a feel minor tremors of flying temper and slapping hands. Sigh. Have I lost the battle? It's really been trying. No one can understand how I feel. Except fellow mummies (esp my mum) who have gone down the same path.
And I know my happy days are over. Sigh. It's really a curse whenever I post something wonderful, things just start to slide downwards. She is now happily trampling on my authority and it's only me that she bullies. Not my mil coz she knows she gets pampered. My mum has a way of teaching her that won't work if I do it. And she's apparently quite an angel when I'm NOT AROUND. Tried and test. I bring out the devil in her. And this means I'm not as patient with her as I used to be. And I don't like that.
She slaps me and she bites me. I slap her back, telling her that she can't slap mummy. Sounds ironic, doesn't it? No violence but mummy resorts to violence to teach a lesson. I'm desperate for a better way to discipline. Reasoning with her doesn't work for me coz she UNDERSTANDS and just want to do the other way. Sigh.
Anyway, some developments to update:
Books:
1. Chicka Chicka Boom Boom
Still her fav for the past week. Can say along with me at some parts. Her fav part "Oh, No! Chicka Chicka Boom Boom!". She always anticipates that part and loves the drama.
2. From Head to Toe
woo...its either the boom boom book or this. She loves acting out the actions and is a bargain at $7!
3. Richard Scarry's Best First Book Ever!
Took it out coz there are pictures of clocks. She likes to point them out.
Motor Skills
1. Jumping
Oh yeah. She can finally jump with both feet off the ground. Not her scaredy faux jump anymore. She has grown up!
Toys
1. Montessori toy set
The set that I ordered finally arrived! Can't wait to teach her as she grows! The knobbed cylinder seem easy to her....must try the other toys when she's more ready
On myself:
One more month before JLPT 1 exam. I really should be studying now but if I don't update today, i won't update anymore. Don't want to lapse.
Gaining confidence as I seem to hover around the passing rate of 70% for my vocab and listening compre. All I need is a pass, who cares the final marks, right?
Been a while since I feel so excited about studying! I can concentrate so much better now than before. I guess when time is not a luxury, you really make the best use of every second!
Wish me luck!!
 Trying on yiyi's super 3 inch heels.
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| Ok, shall try to make it a point to update regularly so Da can know all about Jiji's developments here in SG.
Had another lunch date with Jiji at Sakae Sushi at Cityvibe. Chop chop meal with the same orders. Like to eat there coz Ji can see the MRT passing by and she will go excited and exclaim in a low and deliberately hoarse voice, "too too tain" (choo choo train).
Let me try to put some structure in my updates as a template so that blogging can be a breeze next time.
Current Obsession:
1. Barney
 Me and my bestie.
Baby Bop is hidden under my armpit.
I was too eager to put my arm over their shoulders when mummy said
she will take a picture of me.
2. Baby Bop
See above picture.
3. Clock
We went back to "Goodnight Moon" recently and since then, she keeps going on about clocks and searches high and low for them. Yday we went to IMM and at Ichiban Boshi, she kept asking, "C(l)ock, where?" She will look around a room, especially on walls where clocks are most often found. So, after her nap yday, I decided to take out the wooden clock toy that we bought a couple of months ago and true enough, she likes playing with it (but not for long).
4. Choo Choo Train.
5. Alphabet
Likes to point out different letters. She can recognise M and S. Although I think she knows her ABC, H, I. Probably more, since I didn't really test her. We would play the fridge letter magnet game at my mum's coz there are 2 fridges and a washing machine within reach. I would stick a couple of letters on one fridge, and we will stand at the other vacant fridge. I would shout, "Go get <watever letter>, hurry!!!" and she will run to pick it up and run back to paste on the vacant fridge. So far she can recognise most of the letters I shouted. It's quite a good game as reinforcement. Not that I formally taught her the letters but mainly exposure through games, DVD and objects around us.
Fav Books:
1. Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
Enjoys pointing out to the various objects listed in the story. That's how she got started on her clocks obsession
2. Chicka Chicka Boom Boom
Revisited this 2 days back. This is now a hit with her! Very infections chant of chicka chick boom boom. She tries to pronounce it but only the boom boom is audible. She is very into alphabet lately so this is a good time to take out this book again. In the past, she wasn't interested in it at all.
3. More, more, more, said the baby
Revisited this. It used to be her "it" book along with Eric Carle's "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?". She seems to understand the contents better now and esp loves the last part of the book, the one on Little Bird. This book taught her to say "more" and use it correctly.
Fav Songs:
1. If you're happy and you know it
Loves doing the actions, esp "shout hooray", "rock and roll" and "stamp your feet".
2. Barney's I love you song
'nuff said abt the purple dinosaur....
Basically, she loves music and dance. Cailin said she is controlled by music. Whenever I start singing, she will stop whatever she is doing and dance the appropriate steps to the music.
Fav Toys:
1. Barney
'NUFF SAID!!!!!!
2. Pacifier
Not a toy but she's getting REALLY attached to it. Sigh. Must monitor her teeth.
Motor skills and Other Developments:
1. Using clothespins
Finally! But only the thin, wooden type. Those are easier to open with those small fingers. So happy she could finally do it! Another milestone crossed!
2. Trying to expose her to other games that work on those small fingers. yday we tried beading. Bought short pipe cleaners for her to string small beads into it. She likes the game but seems easy after a while so her attention went wheeee out the window.
Also tried cutting with miniature scissors. Still a lil advance for her.
Bought NTUC tongs that Carol recommended. We will try tonging with small pompoms later.
3. Opportunist
This is in her yeeyee's words. After observing her during playdates, we concluded that she is an opportunist. How? When other kids snatched her toys away, she does not get upset. No tears, no screaming. She might be taken aback by the scruffiness and need some assurance from me but the next time the same kid comes near her, she walks away from him in advance. So when her toy gets taken away, she zips off to play with other things. Usually the other kid will start getting distracted with other toys that the other kids are playing with and will leave her toy alone. At this moment, Elyza will quietly revisit that toy and enjoy it on her own.
She's usually away from commotion. While the other kids snatch and try to get their toys back, you will see Jiji quietly snoops to the other toys that are left aside and play on her own. Cailin says she is an opportunist. I think this is very apt.
4. Can go up the stairs on her own
5. 4. plus going down the slide on her own
Speech and Actions:
1. Still going "GO AWAY" and just mumbles after me when I corrected her to say "excuse me". She goes "ad sehdoauhibewauih".
2. "Cock"
Clock. She can't pronounce the L. See "Current Obsession" above.
3. "Nid Now!"
Sit down, that is. She keeps going "mummy/ahma, nid now!!! nid now!!" and taps on the floor beside her.
4. Dui Le
"That is correct" in Mandarin. Why? Because whenever she did/said something right, I willl go "Dui Le". Now, it advances to a stage she will say something and add "Dui Le" on her own. Self praise is not praise my dear.
5. Orr Bee Good
Her paternal grandma said that to her once and she never forgets. Loves to say that word.
Photo updates:
Play date with Zac korkor
Auntie Irene bought a this lovely tutu which she adores
Reading Goodnight Moon before bed
Pardon the ugly PJs
Trying the bendy wooden bench obstacle at
West Coast Park
With Eason korkor and Auntie Xiujing at
West Coast Park
Swim date with Justin Didi at
Safra Mt Faber
After a date with mummy at IMM
Love the nikkei Japanese style of her dressing!
ps. I took another hour plus to update AGAIN. She's up from her nap.
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