Elkan is reading at 4.5 years old

Elkan started to know how to read 3 letters words like cat, mat, rat when he was 3. At 4years old, he starts reading sentences. I read to him every night, repeating his favorite books "Step into reading:Thomas" series to get him interested into reading. Dr.Seuss book are good for beginner readers.

Parenting thoughts

"When you discipline a child you correct their "undesirable" behavior and teach them acceptable behaviors instead. When you punish a child you inflict physical pain on them and/or instill fear into them in attempt to control them and change their behavior."

South France & Italy Part 2

From Cannes, we went back to Nice as our base. The next day we planned the day trip to Monte Carlo and Monaco by taking local bus 100. It is about 1.5hr bus ride and first stop is Monte Carlo Casino! Monte Carlo - City of rich and Famous, Grand Prix, Formula One came to my mind about this place. But the Casino is the grandest of all, feels like a king when we entered the casion, with red & gold velvety furnishing, roman art splashed across the columns and walls. Too bad no phototakings are allowed. Monaco - only had time to finish Musee Oceanographique de Monaco - much better than Sentosa.

Some pictures on Cannes

My favorites shots of Venice:

Food at Rialto market in Venice

Florence

At Sunset:

PIsa - all 3 buildings are leaning at different angles!

Motivating a Child

I always wonder how I can motivate my child to do his homework instead of using our traditional parenting ways of doing things i.e scold, cane. I know homework could be boring but scolding them/nagging them to do it does not help either. Doing homework should be self movtivated by the children as a means of self satisfaction - motivated process. Do I reward with traditional goodies i.e computer/tv time/toys/games. Motivation has to be internal from the child,hence I pick these articles extracted from the web to remind myself how to motivate my 2 boys. http://www.howtolearn.com/2011/08/how-to-motivate-your-child http://www.howtolearn.com/2011/08/how-to-motivate-your-child in which the 9 motivators are: 1. Personal Gain – the “What's in it for Me” factor. 2. Prestige – The desire to do something that is valued or valuable. 3. Pleasure – everyone wants to enjoy what they are doing. 4. Security – For some people this is the strongest motivator. 5. Convenience – everyone likes to do things that are easy and simple. 6. Imitation – the desire to be like others. 7. Desire to avoid fear – No one likes to be afraid or uncomfortable. 8. New experiences – positive stimulation empowers people. 9. Love – everyone needs to be loved to grow and develop. Interestingly Motiviation is differentiated between intrinsic (e.g choosing a toy > makes her own choice and achieves satisfaction> self sustaining>learn better) versus extrinsic motivation (reward base>not sustainable) Extracted from http://www.nasponline.org/resources/home_school/earlychildmotiv_ho.aspx: There are several strategies parents can use to help children remain more fully intrinsically motivated. 1. Allow children ample time when working to allow for persistence. When children are deeply involved with an activity, make sure that they can finish without interruption. Resist the natural urge to "help," and let the child know if, for example, we have to go to the grocery store in a few minutes. 2. Provide situations that give children an acceptable challenge. Rather than stating that you think they have done a good job, ask them what they think of their work. You'll never go wrong by asking the question, "What do YOU think?" 3. Do not use excessive rewards. They tend to undermine children's ability to value themselves. Praise and rewards should be based upon children's effort and persistence, rather than on the actual accomplishment

South France & Italy March 2012 Day 1 & 2

19th March, me and hubby (no kids) flew off to Milan via SQ,12hr flight. This trip will be probably be my biggest and last trip as Ethan will be in Primary School next year.

From airport at level 1, we took a 30min airport express to Milano Centrale Station for a 5hr train to Nice, France.

We checked in to Hotel Star, 2 min walk from a shopping street. We took local transport instead of original plan of renting a car as overnight parking is about eur13 per night and per hour is eur1.20. And you can only parked at designated public parking which might not be near the hotel. Nice is a good base for day trips to Monte Carlo, Monaco, Cannes and Eze Village as hotels in these places are more expensive than Nice. There are buses 100 to Monaco and 200 to Cannes.

We went to Flowers Market Cours Selaya, pity cannot bring back the orange and lemon plant

The view at Castle Hill (Colline du Chateau) was Great!

Next Day - Cannes Day Trip! Took bus to visit Cannes 1.5hr ride away from Nice. We visited the Musee de la Castre at the top of the hill and did some window shopping along La Croisette

Elkan loves Cakes. At home we have nicknames for ETHAN and ELKAN now. Ethan is called "小面包“ as he loves eating his one & only mini plain butter bread from neighbourhood bakery called Emerald. He can eat this plain bread (2-3 loaves) everyday, and prefers food of simple nature, not too strong nor sweet just like his Daddy. Thank God that he has settled down drinking HL Strawberry Milk (this bit not like Daddy when he was young - daddy do not drink milk at all, wonder how he still grows...) Elkan on the otherhand loves cakes and hates bread,see how his eyes lit up when he sees chocolate cake.

He has a sweet tooth just like Mummy, loves lotus paste buns,kaya breads and anything sweet Ethan will be ready for his swimming test during this March school Holidays. Will see if he is able to pass the test

Elkan Weaning off Pacifier at 4

Ethan weans off his pacifier at the age of 4 and we wish that Elkan would do the same at 4 too. We did some brainwashing after he was 3 1/2yrs old , constantly reminding him that he got to throw away his pacifier when he turns 4, just like his brother. On the fateful day of his birthday, we reminded him that he will have to throw away the pacifier in order to receive the birthday presents, on hearing that, Elkan was quite affirmative and immediately, with a determined and serious look on his face, threw his pacifier in the dustbins. We were quite surprise and happy with his decision. Night time came,he started lamenting and regretting his decision about throwing it away. He told Mummy that "Next time, I dun't want to throw my "tutu" and he would go back to the dustbin and hoping that he would have the bravery to rescue his tutu from his decision (but Elkan was quite afraid of what he would find in the dustbin). He would be repeating and reiterating how much his missed his "tutu". Mummy have to bear with his grumbling for a few nights and gave him the milk bottle nipples to help him tide through 3 nights. after that he managed to kick off the habit

Ethan's Piano

We sent Ethan to Sylvia's Ng Piano class at Pandan Valley because the schedule coincide on Saturday where Elkan was having his Chinese class at Berries. Daddy will also sit in the class with Ethan to see how the teacher was teaching and whether Ethan was coping with the class. After 3 months, Daddy decided he wanted to change the teacher because we feel that the teacher had too managed too many students at one time during the half hour lessons. We could not grasp what she was trying to teach and find it a struggle for us to understand and coach. Daddy's friend who is a piano teacher, recommended her teacher to us. It was God-send. Teacher Lucy not only teaches sight reading, she also make sure that sitting posture, hand/wrist posture are correct and pays undivided attention to Ethan. Now Ethan can play about 20+ songs like Jingle Bell, Good Morning, Twinkle Twinkle ,This old man, 10 Little Indian boys

Ethan is 5years and 2 months old when I started to realised he is abit late compared to his classmates in weaning off his diapers at night. It had not occurred to me that I should start him early as I myself wean off when I was maybe 6years old? Maybe, deep down I still think that Ethan was still a baby and not prepared at all to reach his next milestone. To wean off, the child needs to pee at least twice at night. It has been 6th day that Ethan stayed dry without his diapers

Found a useful link of where to go

 

Celebrating Mummy and Ethan's birthday together on 3rd July at Clementi. Look how eagerly they have been waiting for to blow the birthday cake. Favorite chocolate cake from Classic Cakes. Ethan likes the Lana' s / awfully chocolate type of moist fudge cake whereas Elkan, anything sweet he gobbles up

 

Underwater pictures of both of them. Ethan in light blue googles and Elkan in dark blue

Ethan & Elkan School Performance in May

 

Ethan Acted as a Lobster for his english performance and performed as a tapole for his Chinese perfomance
 
Elkan acted as a black rabbit for English and white sheep for his Chinese act 

 

Lastest Swimming Pictures June 2011

Latest pictures attached by Coach Kian Hui