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?