Price of education

How much should sending your child to kindergarten or nursery cost?

I believe it should be cheaper.

Some of these kindys or nurseries cost per semester is as much as my one semester in a private college here in KL some years back. And these toddlers are only 3, 4, 5 or 6 years old! Oh boy!

*scratching head thinking of where to send AIR1 to now*

On an average, in the Damansara/TTDI area, RM500 is like normal. But of course there are cheaper ones approximate RM250-350 outside of this area.

Hmmm let me have another thought at it before deciding which should it be.

16 months

At 16 months (technically another 9 days to go), AIR2 still has 2 front teeth only!! hehehe but if you watch her eat, you'd never think that was the case. She eats almost everything you give her. Rice, noodles, chicken, vege, porridge, fruits, cereal etc but of course most will be cut to smaller pieces. She is eating more that AIR1. She can finish her portion and his too! :D

Not too stable yet in the walking department. Started walking only at 15 months. On the 2nd day she walked confidently, came back from the bbsitter and she started to try to kick a small ball. Boy oh Boy!! Must've seen those boys (and her brother) do it so often that she was just too excited to wait till later.

And like all other toddlers who have just started to walk, she refuses to be guided or to hold her hands, particularly when we are out of the house. She doesn't mind walking holding hands at home :P

She has started to hum to our singing (many months back), follow and try to pronounce the word correctly when read to, especially numbers 1-10 in Malay & English. I was amused when I first heard it. Now can't wait for her to be pronouncing properly.

And like her brother, she too loves to bully me. I have to reprimand her 3 times before she stops doing it, but her daddy has to just go 'hermmmmph' in a stern voice and she stops in her tracks.

Oh well. They grow up too fast....or it is because time pasts too fast? :D ;p

Alone with AIRs

It's whole 4 day of me alone with the kids, over the weekend too.

The 'problem' with this equation is, whenever four of us (hub, AIR1 and AIR2 and I) are together, AIRs will bully me. Yes....literally bully. So I anticipated a horrific, tiring, stressful weekend.

It started since Thursday night and today, Saturday night and suprisingly, all seems well. I was totally worried Sat would be hell. But AIR1 was well behaved, aside from 2 outbursts of stubborn-ness, which was expected of him as he was sleepy, everything was pretty much under control. Even managed to cook proper dinner for them, despite having to scream a couple of times as they invaded the kitchen and made it their playground.

AIR2 was very sticky to me. But it was merely because she was tired and refused to sleep. Now what else is new? ;p

I was amazed that AIR1 was so good to AIR2 the whole day, especially in the morning.

Now I shall see what happens tomorrow.

And on Mon, AIR1 will be going for trial kindy classes. I hope he'll be ok with it.

First born

First born - aren't they the luckiest ones?

Why do I say that? I've no one to compare with, but I've made observations on my kids.

When AIR1 was born, he had both our time soley to himself. Now that there's AIR2, he has to share the time. For someone who loves taking the kids out when I go for my runs, AIR1 followed me as soon as I was up and about.

2months - strolls

4months - runs, 1st time on the plane

6months - dip in pool and almost forthnightly thereafter

7months - first plane ride with mummy alone and subsequently few more

10months - first 'race' with mummy

But with AIR2, she was not as priviledged. I can't handle one delicate baby and one boisterous toddler at the same time, so its always the boisterous one first, leaving the delicate baby at home to rest with daddy who also needed to rest :)

6-7 months - strolls

10months - dip in pool

1 yr - first 'race' with mummy

and sadly no plane rides yet :(

But of course she has more exposure to the variety of toys and books and games at home, playing and learning together with her brother.

She's more aggressive than her brother, if u must know :)

However, this does not mean the first born is always better, it depends on how the child is brought up along the way too.

Guess who's going to be 1 tomorrow?

AIR2 almost 1 year after

In exactly 10 days, AIR2 will turn 1. Time really flies. But being the 2nd child in the family, the excitement has worn down a little compared to AIR1. Nevertheless, we will still hold a party for the lil’ princess and have a small celebration together.

At almost 1, she
- Still does not have any teeth (yes, it’s amazing, but she being No.2, I'm not worried as I'm now abit more aware than before)
- Loves to stand, but still can’t do a hands-free
- Likes to grab and hold on tight to people who carry her, i.e. me or daddy
- Is not stranger-friendly at all
- Loves to play ‘cak’
- Does not give up easily when trying to keep what’s hers, hers…especially if her brother is the one taking it away from her
- Loves to scream when she’s not happy with anything/anyone
- Is an ultra-light sleeper…the WILL ALWAYs wake up when lifted/moved from current sleeping position
- Ultra-clingy

Let's hope she will somehow enjoy the birthday party....

He's just so loving

Scene 1

Lil’ sister was crawling all over trying to catch mummy, while trying to get everyone ready to go out. Big brother goes to sister and sits in front of her and claps his hands while singing ‘ABCDEFG….etc etc etc’… with an occasional ‘CAK!’

It was indeed heartwarming.

Scene 2

Lil’ sister tries to crawl and grab fritters on the plate. Big brother says ‘No, Nana, No! Kim Poh (grandaunt) scold.’ It brought smiles to those around upon hearing this.

Scene 3

At the babysitter, when they are being dropped off, it has been a norm that lil’ sister will cry. She just doesn’t want to be left with no one carrying her. Today was no exception. I left asking big brother ‘Take care of Nana, ok?’ and he nodded. Shortly, lil’ sister cried. Big brother immediately took to patting her on her back, although he was still ‘half asleep’ J She kept quiet for a while and then later got distracted by something else while I sneaked out. Babysitter must have come to accompany her after that.

25 months and counting

Wow, time just flew by. AIR1 is now 25 months old. Gosh. Onset of the terrible twos and what-nots but the best of it all, is seeing how he progresses daily.

1. Few weeks back he can sing the whole ABC song, recite numbers 1-10 in both BM & English, 11-15 in BM.

2. 2 months ago he started recognizing alphabets such as A, B, C, O, E and Z.

3. Picking up and speaking new words almost everyday. New to me, because sometimes he may have been using it in the nursery but I've not heard but generally his vocab suprises me. Some words I've taught him in English or Hokkein but he refused to repeat in the begining, suddenly pops out of his mouth. And it'll take me a while to decipher.

4. But he's not into scribbling (on paper or even anywhere) but he likes painting, i.e. finger painting, stenciling anything to do with paint. Colours are attractive perhaps.

5. He hums, sings very often now and can even hum to his sister when asked to. (When in his good mood)

6. Very demanding especially when either one of us is busy attending to his sister nearing bedtime.

7. Very afraid of Daddy and prefers to stick to me (i.e. bully me too!).

8. Can remember characters in all his cartoons, and even those he rarely watches at home(from his nursery). His favourite cartoons are Pororo, Dibo, Timmy Time, Spongebob and once in a while Handy Many which will glue him to the TV for a while.

9. Loves to talk on the phone recently and have been having 'calls' with me while I was away.

10. Can recognize all the alphabets from A-Z already!

Oh well, 10 facts enough la...

But out of these 10, the 10th is the one I'm most impressed with. When I started 'testing' him, those he didn't know he will go 'err err' and those he knows will be really quick responses. And 2 days ago, he recognize ALL!

I wouldn't say his learning progress is solely attributed to what he learns at home. His nursery is quite good. Although most of his learning is informal, but there are daily activities which they have both for the older kids and the tots. Learning ABCs, 123s, singing nursery rhymes, learning to solat and alot of other interesting activities.

I read about early childhood learning and stimulation and although I wouldn't say that I fully practised it, I would have done it on and off and subconciously. Started him on those soft cloth books, progressed to hard books and flashcards (most materials courtesy of Grandpa) and some other suitable books. He took on well at a young age. All this stimulation and learning is done on the road (house-nursery journey is 30min-50mins depending on traffic and vice versa), at home during weekends (he used to sleep in the car on the way home and then sleeps through to the next morning), and whenever there's time.

AIR2 on the other hand is at a slight disadvantage because when she was old enough, our daily morning trips are in darkness still. On the way back, she sleeps too. And whenever we have the chance in the car, AIR1 intervenes :( So it's usually at home or when there are two of us together in the car. Also she likes to flick and throw her books about, instead of holding and 'turning the page properly'. I hope she can still catch up with her brother.

Different kids progress at difference pace, so not to worry.

Have a great weekend with your family! What have you planned?

Awesom-est phone call

AIR1 loves the phone. Give it to him and he'll pretend to be talking to someone. But give it to him when someone is on the other end and he will be silent. If he recognizes the person on the other end, he will smile when he's spoken to. Otherwise he will remain silent.

Today will be my 2nd time on this trip talking to him. The first time, he was silent, as usual. Today, after a while, he interacted with me. I was surprised. Hub has a photo ID of me on the phone, so putting me on microphone, AIR1 could see and hear me, thinking I could the same of him. (But no video call, so I only can hear him ;p)

Then all of a sudden during the conversation when I asked if he did any reading, he went and brought his fav book to daddy and started to want me to read with him. My first phone conversation with him and it felt awesome! Finally at 2. I asked if I could speak to his sister and he asked daddy to 'take me there'. Adorable.

AIR2 squealed in delight and smiled (says daddy) when she heard my voice, not knowing where it came from. When I was 'talking' to AIR2, AIR1 played the baby-toy which had music, danced to it and asked me to see. I could imagine him doing his 'dance'.

And when asked to say goodbye, he waved at me. Ohhhh can't wait to see them three soon!

Artsy weekend

Because I missed my training, this was what we (AIR1 and I) did on Sunday!

Stamping which ended up erm...but he enjoyed it.

Hand printing was great and he refused to stop. Too bad I didn't prepare proper paper, or he would've have his feet stamped too!

Asrul is 2!

My lame attempt at making healthy and kid-friendly cuppies.

Still tastes ok, but I'm not good at the topping. Plus since for kiddies, I decided to hold off too much of choc or icing and the likes, so just plain writing ;p

The 'blanks' are just fillers so the tray would be full :)

Can't wait for his first birthday do at the nursery. Hope he'll have fun! He came home 4 days ago singing 'happy birthday' after one of his friend's had a birthday-do there. I guess he enjoyed himself.

Mummy & Daddy love you lots and hope you'll grow up to be a good, smart, obedient and be successful in life.

Let's watch TV

It's a ritual for AIR1 to watch his favourite DVD every night before bedtime. And sometimes he insists that I sit with him, so AIR2 will join him too (if not asleep yet).

He's got 4 favourites - Barnyard until he discovered Alvin & The Chipmunks 2, then he was introduced to Upin & Ipin's Geng (the movie) and finally Ice Age 3. Nowadays he spends most of the time watching 'pin pin' (Upin Ipin) or 'moth' (Mammoth) and only once in a while 'mouse' (the intro of the prog was the lil' mouse jumpin' about at the 'start menu') or 'cat' (he confidently refers to the chipmunks as cats).

I wonder what's next.

Milk Bottle

Since I was introduced to this range of baby bottle, about 2-3 weeks after AIR1was born, I've been using this for him and his sister. It's an anti-colic bottle and the bottom of the bottle can be opened, has holes and a rubber (or is it silicone) piece lining it which prevents the milk from leaking and prevents colic.

Now, 19 months on, I decided to change to the regular shaped (this bottle is 'fatter' at the bottom) bottle since I do have a few lying around unused. Cut cost also la... :) The rubber/silicone lining and its teat is quite pricey compared to regular bottles.

And one day i tried giving him milk in the regular bottle, and when I gave him, he took a look at the bottle, and kept turning it around 'investigating' it and then passed it back to me. I held it to his mouth and he tried to 'drink' the milk from there, but i guess the teat is different, and immediately he handed it back to me again. Oh Boy...

After many tries, he refused. I tried again sometime later, but to no avail. So, I had no choice but to buy the same range (without the anti-colic) for him....*dah besar2 nih tak payahla nak anti-colic, kan?*

Hmmm I'm guessing the princess will have the same reaction next time, because I tried with two different pacifiers one day.... :p

Updates....again

Kinda fast lah, it's already 2 weeks post delivery.

She now has more or less a schedule/system, but the not-so-fav part of it all is that she will pass-motion after her feed, esp at night and sometimes this 'process' will take an hour or more. And during that hour, you will have to entertain her, i.e. carry/cuddle or talk to her or else she will bring the house down. Worse is even her small whines will wake her suddenly-ever-so-sensitive-brother.

Weight gained during pregnancy - approx 7kg
Weigh-in at 7 days after delivery - (-) 10kg

hahaha I loike! Let's hope it stays that way :)
And let me find time (after the next 2 weeks) to start training :p

Brushing

How young should we start brushing our kids’ teeth?

I always pondered on this question as it was a difficult task trying to get the finger brush into AIR’s mouth since young. Since he was a rather late bloomer, I was taking it easy. Until recently.

At 16months old, he’s got 4 upper front teeth and 3 lower ones. And one more just beginning to pop out below. But I noticed, the 4 top and bottom front teeth were quite nice. But those beside these were not so. Then, I saw that there was a slight yellow tinge on one of it!! What?! I was kinda surprised.

I’ve already bought him a toothbrush and toothpaste which allows to be swallowed. So one day when mum was around, she tried. And he loved it. I guess after a couple of times seeing how I brush he kinda thought it was fun. Though 50% of the time he’ll be chewing on the toothbrush, but I suppose this is a start.

Coincidentally an article on teeth and brushing for babies/toddlers was also on this month’s ‘Young Parents’ magazine. Looks like my choice of products were quite ok afterall.

Vocab at 15 months

At 15 months, I don’t think he has a great range of vocab yet, but I guess its getting there. It’s funny how sometimes they learn the word, use it so often and then suddenly doesn’t want to say it anymore.

His favourite current list stands at

1. Buah – which is supposed to be bunga (I guess ‘nga’ is not easy at 6 months cos it was his first word and it is still stuck at buah) or when I say flower he will respond with ‘buah’
2. Ba – ball
3. Star – also one of his first words but now not so interested anymore
4. Dedi, d – daddy
5. Mam, mamam – mummy and food (which more often I think he meant the later)
6. Ka – car
7. Nak – nak
8. Tanak – tak nak (sometimes, more often, he will just shake his head)
9. Kakak
10. Katak
11. Adik
12. Ah ma – grandma
13. Ba – bus or the occasional ‘bak’
14. Grrrr – when he sees a tiger/lion and spongebob (don't ask me why but perhaps the colour)
15. Eeeyaauu eeeyaauu – when he sees a cat/kitten
16. Woo woo – barking sound when he gets his stuffed dog or sees any dog
17. Azan (to which he will also animate with his own version of the Azan)

Erm, that’s all that I can think of for now…

Antics at 1!

It’s amazing how fast a one-year-old learns. I thought perhaps after seeing it done 3-4 times only the lil fella will remember, but oh no….it only takes once and then he will remember and can repeat it.

When he observed the sequences before Ah Kong opened the main door to take him out, the next thing we realized was he showed us the sequences, i.e. by pointing to the drawer where the keys were kept, so he could be carried to take the keys and then pointing to the padlock on the grille door.

Then it was when Daddy ‘showed’ him how to start the motorcycle. He’s got this fascination with motorbikes, bicycles and cars. So sitting in the ‘basket’ Daddy showed him where the key was to be switched on first, then the ignition button. After that, he switched it off. Then he promptly put him fingers on the keys, tried to turn it on but failed. So instead, he took Daddy’s fingers and put it there to ask him to turn it on for him. Then he tried to press the ignition button.

I was surprised. When we went to a relative’s house, the motorbike was of a older version, hence the ignition key was at a diff spot. He somehow still remembered where the previous bike’s was and when he found a key lying there, he took and tried to slot it into where he thought the ignition was.

It’s also been sometime since we visited my aunt and her dog. So two days back, we visited her and oh boy, was he sooo fascinated by her dog. He saw where my aunt took the biscuit to give doggy and when the biscuit finished, he took her to go take another.

And when we were back in the kg, there were chicken and cats around. He was absolutely thrilled when for the first time he touched the cat’s fur. He giggled and squealed in delight. And couldn’t wait to touch it again. Too bad those chicken were untouchable. They immediately ran away when we got near.

On our first night there, as he got up at about 5+ am for his feed, he heard the cock crow. To my surprise he actually sat up and went ‘wooo wooo’ and I thought to myself, that this would be a very early morning for me….thank goodness he slept off while taking milk, but as usual, by 630 he’s up and about again.

Early mornings everyday!

Temper Tantrums

Finally, 2-3 days shy of 13 months, AIR took his first solo steps. And after that, all he wanted to do was walk and walk and walk....but of course there were times when he wanted to hold on to us to....faster and more stable. and now confidently, albeit abit 'mabuk' he will explore everywhere and look for anyone or anything.

So back home for CNY and we discovered now he loves throwing tantrums. Yes, everyone Ah Ma and Ah Kong are around to give him all the attention he wants and so he's taking full advantage of it. You say no and all of a sudden he throws his tantrums.

Now, every morning his 'ritual' would be walk to the shoe rack, pick his favourite sandals and then point to the drawer where the keys are kept and hola, he'll make u open the main door and then take him out for a walk. I have refused many times and he will patiently wait for his grandpa to awaken and excitedly do the same. And of course, this time he gets what he wants. Boy oh boy....I wonder what's gonna happen when we get back to KL.

Anyway, happy holidays to those enjoying the long break and Gong Xi Fa Cai to all celebrating!!

New Year, New Concerns....

I’m now having stuffed/blocked (or whatever it’s called) nose. Crappy….it just happened on New Year’s day, one fine afternoon, I started sneezing and so it happened. First, it was the occasional block and now it seems like its blocked more often than its not. Hmmmm

Need a new nose? Hahahaha

There’s nothing much interesting yet happening for the new year, but in 9 days’ time, lil’ AIR will be turning 1. Oh Gosh! It’s a whole new number, I guess :D

New year, new babysitter for him too.

New place, new lady, older and only 1 other baby who is about 5 months old and so I guess he may not be having so much attention, but this lady’s children, late teens and early 20s like to entertain him when they’re back from work. So I guess it is not that bad afterall.

New babysitter seems to have good comments bout him. I wonder if he’s really only very manja with us. Hmmmm but every morning when I drop him off, he will cry. He will cling to me and not let go and when I hand him over to her, he will cry. Apparently it’s a ‘out of sight, out of mind’ thing. Not long after I leave, he will stop and just start playing. Hmmmm I hope this will die off….it’s rather disheartening.

However, I have a concern. I dunno if this is a common concern or its just that I’m over-concerned. I’m not trying to be biased, but this lady is in the kampong area. She only speaks Malay. We speak English and Malay and Hokkien to him at home (and if my dad is around he will amuse him with some Tamil). So he goes there trying to say what we’ve thought him but they don’t really know (those who are there at least). I’m just wondering if he will be at a disadvantage when it comes to developing his other language skills, other than Malay. Hahaha, I know it may be a bit premature but I just have that nagging feeling. Now I feel like quickly getting him to a playschool, at least he can have more friends and be more sociable there…but that will have to wait till at least 2 also la…hmmmm

He says ‘ka’ which is supposed to be car….and ‘ta’ for star or whatever other things we tell him…but we do know what he is referring to cos he will be pointing or nudging that direction. Star, fan, light, clock, shoe are all ‘ta’. There also sounds like ‘ta’ but if we listen closely its ‘teh’. And ‘brrooom brroom’ is for motorbike, or otherwise also known as ‘ka’.

I do know that babies and toddlers pick up language very fast….but then again, he spends more time awake at the babysitter’s than at home on weekdays. Aaargh!

Antics

It’s amusing when we play with him now. He’s really entertaining. Other than the fact that he sometimes refuses to sleep, when he’s already so sleepy, otherwise he’s just a very happy baby. Thank God.

Now he entertains my mum by blowing his toy trumpet. He will do it with a ‘suck and blow’ action. It’s funny how he puffs up his cheeks and then blows it all out, with all his might. At 5-6 months old, he didn’t take interest in the piano. Now sit him in front of the piano and he will bang away.

He imitates almost everything we teach him. He ‘sayang’ the cat in the picture book but not the peacock. (that we didn’t teach, we only thought him to identify) He has two of those Jusco bears, 1 small vibrating bear and 1 slightly larger Farley bear but sheds its fur. He’s taken no interest in the Jusco bears but loves to ‘sayang’ the small vibrating bear and the bear which is shedding fur. So now, the bear shedding fur is kept away from him. He loves the really tiny Garfield soft toy too. I wonder where he learnt to ‘sayang’ the toys….

His antics are really cute. To us, at least. hehe