Friday, June 29, 2007

Reading

Some of Marcus' fav English books since he was 6 mths old ...
1. The Very hungry caterpillar by EC
2. Very busy spider
3. Goodnight moon by MWB
4. My World by MWB
5. Fox in Socks by Dr Seuss
6. Green Eggs and Ham
7. Hop on Pop
8. One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish
9. Under the Bed
10. Where the wild things are
11. Guess how much I love you
12. Spot's Treasure Hunt
13. Grouchy ladybug
14. Is this the house of Mistress Mouse

and a couple more which I can't recall... these were/are his fav books which he demanded we read to him every night for a few weeks for some and others for as long as a few months.. Current hot fav is 'Is this the house of Mistress Mouse' which E and I have been reading for more than 3 months now and we are SICK of it.

He used to laugh at sections of 'Caterpillar' esp the ending due to the animation I made and he came to expect it. Chuckled lots when I read "Spider' book during all the 'moo moo' and 'neigh neigh' sounds. Read 'Goodnight Moon' nightly for at least 6 months till we got him 'My World' which swiftly became his new fav. At 20mth, he tried to read 'My world' on his own for first time. Then moved on to read 'Green Eggs' and 'hop on pop' on his own, though could read words here and there prior to 20 mths. By 21 mth old, he could read books #1 to 10 on his own, except for Fox in Socks which contains lots of difficult words. All this in addition to his other collections and chinese books.

Stopped reading so much since Nicholas arrived though. Seems to have lost interest in his books too.

Have been trying to read to Nicholas but can't seem to find enough time/opportunities. Not enough 1-1 time i guess. Also realise E is not reading to N at all! Think he got lazy/less motivated and definitely less time. For past few weeks I tried reading him 3 books daily before nap times and change the books every week, in addition to random ones I pick whenever possible. He loves 'spider' and 'caterpillar' too and whenever I start reading/reciting, he will stop whatever he is doing and look straight at me with a recognition smile. Aww...

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Draw, Spell, Maze and Geometry




Draw/Spell

Can draw sooooo well! He is improving everyday. His train, double-deckers, single-decker, bendy bus and taxi drawings are amazingly impressive, at least to me. Complete with windows, doors, wheels and even the road for the vehicle to move on. He is colouring within lines now and can even do dot-to-dot diagrams independently and accurately! So proud of him.

Can spell 'car', 'taxi', 'van', 'bus' amongst others and even write 'taxi' and 'Marcus' on his own. Asked me to spell 'comfort' taxi for him and after typing it a few times, he actually could remember and spell it himself.

Above: he wrote 'taxi' himself while I held his hand to write 'Marcus'. And he loves to underline his words.

Maze/Geometry

Got Marcus to do the worksheets provided by SM and realise how much improvements he has made in past 12 weeks. He can now do mazes and tanagrams on his own and do them well too. Very fond of mazes too. Had to stop him, else he could probably do 20 at a go.

Last week he rearranged 6 triangles into a hexagon and announced proudly to me and E 'look look here is a hexagon!'. Then he did the same with smaller triangles. Also rearranged 2 semi-circles into a circle and 2 trapeziums into a hexagon, all on his own. We didn't teach him that, so he either figured it out himself or must have learnt it in school. So proud of him.

Speech
Talks a lot more about school to me these days. Woke from nap today and told me he cut a black flower and Bryan cut purple and yellow flowers. He meant paper flowers. Saying a lot of cute lines too.. Asked him something and he will reply 'I think it is... ", "oh, wait wait wait let me see..'. yesterday after changing his nappy he said to me 'mama, thank you for helping me' . wow.. i was floored as again I didn't teach him that. Now he will also ask chic-chic questions and answer on his behalf. Haha.

Makes up a lot of songs with his own lyrics which I can't understand at all. Sings all day long whenever he is in jovial mood and seems entertained by it. Hardly sing a proper song anymore.

Asks lots of questions all day long now and he likes to paraphrase. Recent example -
M: 'mama the man is running after the bus'..
I : 'yes because he is trying to catch the bus'..
M: 'so he can't get on the bus if he runs slowly?'
I: 'that's right. He has to run fast to catch the bus'
M: 'so he has to run faster?'
I: 'yes run really fast to catch the bus before the bus door closes'
M: 'so he can't get on the bus if the door closes?'
etc etc... and this can go on for a long time if I indulge him.

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Pretend Play, Creativity, Writing, Friends

Quite obvious Marcus' favourite characters from Monsters Inc. are the green Mike (whom he called Mikey), Sulley and Boo. From the box of over 30 plastic characters of the film which E brought back from Change Alley, Marcus plays with Mikey the most, making him ride the bendy bus to go to school, go to shops and Mikey surviving bus crash! Haha!

Past by a vending machine today and Marcus asked me if I want to buy some drinks. So I asked if he has money and he pretended to take out from his pocket, put the coins in the slot and made selection. Then took out his drinks, opened the can and shared with me. :)

Most days, he can't wait to get home after school to play with his buses and can play non-stop from 1130am to 5pm unless I insist that he naps before 3pm. Now he arranges his buses for all sorts of crash scenario and Mikey goes for rides.


Creativity
Marcus uses the shapes in his box of Colours in Shapes to arrange into buses, trains and yesterday he even made the SMRT logo using a trapezium on top, rectangle in the middle and semi-circle below. Then he sandwiched a small circle between 2 bigger circles and told E it is a hamburger! Haha!





Writing
Marcus draws various shapes (square, rectangle, circle, triangle, oval) rather well now and also started writing the letters 'M', 'A', 'X' 'S', 'H', 'I', 'J' and 'O'.


Friends
Such a joy to pick Marcus up from school. He is always so happy and will point out his classmates to me when he sees them outside school. He knows their names and even tell me sometimes he likes them and what they did in school.

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Cruising, Just thoughts





















Nicholas started cruising in his cot tonight. Can't stop admiring how cute he is and I know I am going to miss these days when he gets older, which probably will motivate me to try for #3. Hah! I cuddle and kiss him so much everyday, though I try to ensure he gets time to play on his own and also to explore freely. But he tends to navigate back to me the moment he sees me. That sweet little needy nut! Tell myself to enjoy being needed and loved while I can, considering how sometimes Marcus will still say he doesn't want mama and want papa. Usually only happens when E is around.

Just thoughts
Bumped into an old classmate after yoga. Haven't seen her for 12 yrs and got to know one of our old classmates drowned in the Bahrain ferry sinking incident last yr. Gosh! Though I haven't seen him/in touch since Sec 4, still the news affected me a lot. How fragile life is and how much we must cherish the loved ones we have. He was trapped inside the lower deck with his wife when the boat capsized, so both died. So young. Such a waste. He left behind his old parents. Imagine the loss and pain his parents must feel, indeed only a parent can truly empathise. Immediately I thought of shelving my idea of taking Marcus and mum on a cruise next month. Must cherish my 3 boys so much and live each day to the fullest.

Sunday, June 17, 2007

Shichida, Party, Porridge, Pull-up

So impressed with M's ability to remember the pictures at Flash Memory segment. He got 12 out of 13 correct today, the only one he didn't get right was the new picture introduced today - bullock cart. One other kid got about 3 or 4 right and the rest were quiet throughout. Was surprised that all kids are continuing to next term, though so costly, parents are really not sparing expenses even though most probably not seeing results yet. He was so chatty throughout, and teacher remarked in his term assessment that he is 'so eloquent with good linguisitic potential' among other compliments.

Party
Took boys to Bedok in evening for birthday party. M enjoyed himself so much and even squeezed his way through crowd to stand next to birthday boy and family during birthday song singing and cake cutting, especially when he isn't even keen on cakes. Haha. Would be funny if he appeared in most photos. With CARS stickers and storybook as party favours and even a bunch of cars as present for his doodling contest participation, it must be a great party for him, though I was hoping that he would get to taste the cake to gauge his preference. Too bad we didn't even get any cake at all, which is problem with huge turnout.

Mental note:- must ensure all guests get cake at N's party, since likely to have huge crowds too. E wants separate parties for the boys to be fair to N, so M is getting his 3rd party with handful kids, probably get him to choose who to invite and N shall get similar style 1st birthday bash as M before with caterer, relatives etc..

Porridge
Nicholas definitely prefers baby cereals to brown rice porridge. Tried 4x and he rejected them all, I am getting lazy to try more. Shall try another few more times and if he dislikes it still, shan't bother till he is older. Have been giving Healthy Times/Earth Best cereals so far and he likes them all. Don't want to cook white rice porridge since so refined = low nutrients.

Pull-up, Crawl
N pulled himself up in cot today and could stand very steadily holding on to the bars in cot. He was so pleased with himself, laughing so much while standing up. The new perspective must have thrilled him lots. Didn't remember M doing that at 8 mths though M was very strong and advanced in gross motor skills. N has been crawling a little for about 2 to 3 weeks now. Just took out the foam mats to let him practise more. Prior was only crawling on our bed/his cot. Immediately he crawled around and pulled himself up holding to the side of sofa, the way he does when he's in cot. Very pleased with himself with a big smile on his face.

Friday, June 15, 2007

Downtown East, So Fat

Downtown East
Haven't been there for a decade. Took boys there on Saturday after airport sending off grannies. Just as we reached DTE, Marcus fell asleep. But chic was awake, so he was busy looking around and taking everything in. He especially loves the busy scenes and like other kids, find older kids fascinating. Wanted to take M to Explorerkids, but decided to return on weekdays as too busy with too many older kids on climbing frames. Could imagine how much fun M would have. At least boys had fun day, taking Skytrain at airport, taxi, bus and MRT rides. Could tell how much grannies love the boys, kissing non-stop and of course they are going to miss my cuties. Pity they can't stay longer or come more frequent.

E put M on the weighing scale at airport and he weighs 13.2kg!! Yippee! Bumped into a kid afterwards and I realise how much bigger M is now compared to that kid of same age who was much heavier than M a year ago. My baby M has really grown quite a bit since he turned 2, eating better and more and somedays with appetite that surprises me even.

So Fat
Few weeks ago, Marcus remarked loudly to E 'papa, that man is so fat' when an obese man walked past them at AMK bus interchange. Both E & I were shocked and amused at same time. Actually I was quite horrified. I didn't even introduce the word 'fat' to him before and have never ever referred to any person as 'fat'. Though there is nothing factually wrong to teach him that, but I think it is politically incorrect thing to teach these days.

Thursday, June 14, 2007

Seoul

My favourite soy bean paste seafood stew!! Drool... aww.. i am lovesick. Miss my soup.










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First school review

Met teacher Nazia and Li laoshi for first parent-teacher conference. Went into classroom and was shown the of EPL (Exercises of Practical Life), Sensorial and Language materials that Marcus has been introduced to and others that he will work on in future. So interesting! 

Was told his strengths lie in interactions with adults, able to express his needs/wishes very clearly with well-formed sentences, recognising colours, very attentive and interested in all materials shown to him, understand instructions well and participate enthusiastically. Curious and explore freely with new materials and takes pleasure working on arts/crafts. Also making effort to initiate conversations with classmates. 

Laoshi was surprised we didn't speak much Mandarin at home, said he understood her well even when she's w/o gestures. Nazia was surprised that Marcus know numbers and can count, said will expose him to Mathematics section soon though generally that is only intro at age 3.5yo. She wanted to know how come Marcus know his numbers, alphabet, and can read/speak so well for his age.

Areas to work on at home: play phonic games, I spy and speak more Mandarin!

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Loves school, First Words, Appetite, Routine











Should really consider whether to send Marcus to some arts or music school when he turns 3. http://www.one-art-studio.com/
http://www.claycove.com/contact.htm
http://www.seimpi-music.com.sg/

Nicholas is 8 months old now. Hmm.. should consider arranging some informal playgroups/playdates for him on regular basis now since that was the age when Marcus first started his informal weekly playgroups too. E said it is only fair to send N to some enrichment programmes like we did for Marcus, but now that I have evaluated so many with Marcus, the only ones which I really like are GUG and Shichida... perhaps will do that when N is older. Once N can crawl well, maybe we can sign up for Gymboree free play. The classes are crap though. Kindermusik is overrated too. So is Julia Gabriel. Just read some recent posts from a blog of a kid I knew from the motherhood forum and I get so inspired. Got to nurture my boys properly and more. Oh gosh! With their potential (and I always believe that babies are born geniuses), I will be letting them down if I don't bring out their best potential in these golden years. Ok, no more shopping and dilly dally.. time to get back into some serious nurturing business!!

Marcus really loves going to school so much now. After a week break, I was a little concerned that he may not like returning to school, but yesterday he couldn't wait to get into his classroom and I had to urge him to give me a kiss before letting him go. The whole way there, he was skipping and walking faster than me, pulling me along. Today, papa takes him to school and he is also skipping and 'rushing' to school. He said 'ok' and jumped off sofa when papa said 'let's go to school now'. Earlier when Nicholas wanted to take his school bag, Marcus told his bro' 'you go to small school later'. Haha!

More First Words
Told Nicholas to say 'up' whenever he wanted me to carry and he did yesterday. Wanted me to cuddle so badly, he was making a lot of noise while extending his arms towards me and giving me his most intense eye contact. Haha.. then he said 'up'. Last week, he started saying 'dada' very frequently, not sure if he meant 'papa' since i always teach him to say 'papa' and not 'dada' the latter being more common in ang-moh land for 'daddy'. I don't like 'dada' as it is babytalk to me, whereas 'papa' is proper word?

Appetite
Nicholas has such big appetite for past 2 weeks. Eating 2 meals a day now and still seem hungry. He can eat a full chinese bowl of wholegrain cereals with veg/fruits now, mixed with his formula milk and would drink the rest of the 180ml bottle too.. which is plenty for such a tiny tummy.

Routine
Trying to work towards this routine and squeezing in more activities into the day. Abit annoyed with myself for not being more organised.
8 - 11am: Marcus' school. Bonding with Nicholas (gai-gai, games, playdates). Nicholas' 1st nap.
11am - 2pm: Fetch Marcus from school, lunch and nap routine.
2 - 5pm: Marcus naps, Nicholas' 2nd nap, more bonding with Nicholas.
5 - 8pm: Sibling play, dinner, Nicholas' bedtime routine
830 - 10pm: Bonding with Marcus and bedtime.

Saturday, June 9, 2007

Taitai-ish frivolous comments

Been shopping quite a bit in past few months with the windfall I made from stocks and '06 'bonus $' and really pleased with the few beautiful pieces I splurged on. I figured I would be able to buy a drop-dead gorgeous piece every week if I were working, so i shouldn't be guilty about a little retail therapy now and again since I *am* working, just not collecting a paycheck. Just bought a really beautiful white linen blouse the week before I left for Seoul and today, got another gorgeous deep coral hue linen blouse from same store. Aww.. retail therapy really works wonder. If only I have more space for bags and shoes and jewellery.. can never have enough of them.. My dream, which I intend to fulfill in near future, is to have a built-in wardrobe for shoes which must be able to hold min 100 pairs and another 100 bags. Hmm.. I think I have about 40 bags currently, excluding the 15 I threw/gave away last year. Oh oh.. I saw 2 pairs of too-beautifully-set jade earrings in Insadon, Seoul. I would have bought the first pair immediately if not for the flaw. Only a piece per design and at that price for such elegant, classy and yet modern, and achingly beautiful style, I couldn't resist. I love it so much that I even dreamt about it the next night. The second pair is very different but also equally enchanting. But the biggest flaw is its price - $250! Though reasonable for jade accessories, but being a novice, I can't tell if it is a $1 kind of quality or not, so I hesitate paying such premium, especially when that store is more like a gem & costume jewellery store and I can't make myself pay that much for costume jewellery. Hmm... on hindsight, should have bought it.. see.. I am still thinking about it 2 weeks later. Doh!

Friday, June 8, 2007

Shouting, buses

One day a few months back, I realised I was a little more stressed out and was raising my voice very often at Marcus and I was upset and not proud of it. That was the beginning of the difficult period of him not wanting to cooperate with me on *anything*, especially during the morning routine of changing out of pajamas, wash face, brush teeth, nappy change etc.. and it was also such a struggle getting ready to go out. So I found myself losing my cool so quickly and easily and shouted at him. Usually I feel guilty immediately and very often I would apologise immediately after for shouting, but I felt it wasn't enough and had to constantly remind myself that he was only 2.5 yo. One afternoon i cuddled him and explained to him that it wasn't nice of mummy to shout at Marcus, even when I am very angry or upset with his behaviour. And I suggested to him to say to me in future 'mama, don't shout' if I were to do it again. He nodded as if he understood. I was doubtful. Few days later, I only slightly raised my voice at him in desperation to get him to put on a nappy and to my surprise he said 'mama, don't shout at marcus'. I was stunned, embarrassed and very proud of him. I apologised, explained it wasn't nice to shout, but I was getting impatient blah blah... and he readily came forward to put on his nappy. So it continued for a few months like this, though there were times when I wasn't even upset and wasn't shouting or talking loudly at all and he would just suddenly say 'mama don't shout' at me, which amuses and also annoys me. He hasn't said it for about 2 months and this week, he is back to reminding me AND his papa not to shout. Haha! Yesterday he was playing with the maid and he raised his voice as he got too excited. Immediately he paused, lowered his head and said in a small voice 'sorry auntie, I should not shout (with) you' (he meant 'shout at you'). I was so proud of him, praised him for saying that and couldn't stop laughing myself.


Buses
Marcus has been especially fond of buses the past 2 months and it has become his favourite topic in everything he does. He made up songs about buses, either composing his own tunes and adding lyrics about buses or changing the lyrics of tunes he already knows and adding words of 'bus' everywhere in the song.. like Twinkle twinkle little bus... He uses playdoh to make buses or asked the adults to do so for him, he draws buses everyday, paints buses, colours in pictures of buses, uses Lego bricks to make buses, plays with all his toy buses, googles on laptop to find pictures of buses, tells us stories of buses and where it goes and what incidents happen to these buses like the buses crash or buses are upside down or buses hit the kerb and he even arrange geometrical shapes (from a box of games) to form single and double decker and bendy buses, complete with wheels.

Thursday, June 7, 2007

Burn Out

Took both boys to the zoo this morning. Very tiring few hours but it is definitely worth the effort though we only saw 2 shows and a few animals on the way. Most importantly it was a trip for the boys, especially Marcus who seemed to enjoy the MRT and bus ride to the zoo, and later the tram ride around and finally the taxi ride home. 

The 2 shows we caught were quite fun really, seeing the animals splashing water at the audience made Marcus laugh and he clapped enthusiastically throughout the shows. I could see how Nicholas took everything in too and it is moments like these that I remind myself to see the 'big picture' and why I choose to be a stay-home mum.

I must admit that after all these months of hearing Marcus says 'I don't want mummy' and his more recent phrase of 'I don't need mummy, I only want papa' is really getting to me. 

He only says this when E is around and during daytime when he is not, Marcus will keep saying he wants mama and that he needs to cuddle mama and sometimes when I am attending to N, he will even look at me sadly and say 'what about Marcus? Marcus needs mama, how about Marcus and mama?' which makes me sad. 

I suspect he thinks that I give priority to N, so his way of defence is not to need me. These days M tends to cry more too, over very small matters. It probably is his way of getting attention since he must have figured out that N gets ours by crying. It can be extremely tiring dealing with both crying for what feels like a whole day. 

Now it seems like from the moment I rise till I retire, all I do is dealing with their crying, feeding, bath and whatever remaining time I have, I get annoyed by the stupid maid. Some days I do feel liike I have worked so hard the whole day trying to look after the boys' best interests and when E returns from work, and M immediately discards me. It sucks! Big Time! 

And I feel the burn out. One would probably think that we only get it from work, but this IS work too! And it is work without a full hour lunch break, no toilet breaks sometimes and surrounded by crying. Sometimes I feel like my job appraisals suck and I am not used to getting anything but lots of As for any exams and appraisals ALL MY LIFE and now my son tells me he doesn't need me, feels like he is giving me a FAIL grade! Damned. I know he does loves me still as he just volunteered that information yesterday twice, without any prompting and he rushed over to hug my hip suddenly. That was sweet. 

Actually the idea of returning to my high flying career is beginning to appeal to me more each day, but the prospect of leaving my boys with child care centres, maids or any other strangers is discouraging me from sending off my CVs. This better be a difficult phase only and will pass in a few long months. I am certainly hoping so.

Wednesday, June 6, 2007

Imagination, Googling, Fickleminded

Marcus was in a taxi with E one day when the taxi they were in hit the kerb. E explained to him what happened and since then, Marcus has been imagining that his toy cars and buses hit the kerb as well. He will also tell me as often as twice a day that 'mummy, i just saw a black taxi hit the kerb' and when i ask him where is the taxi, he will run towards the window and point to the main road indicating that he saw one there.

Googling
He has also been spending quite a bit of time recently on the laptop and has even mastered how to use the search engines to find pictures of the different transport modes. Haha. He can now spell some words like 'bus' and 'taxi' and would type them on the search field and has even figured out how to use the space bar, Backspace and Enter keys on the keyboard. Truly hilarious to watch how he can become totally engrossed. He does need our (usu it means papa) help to search for more varieties like bendy buses, double deckers and coaches etc, and his face will just light up the moment Google brings up the pictures.

Fickleminded
Offered M biscuits, he held it for half hr and not eating it. So I asked if he wanted it. Said no twice, so I ate it. Seeing me chew it up, he started crying and said he wanted it. Told him it is too late as I have eaten it since he said he didn't want it. Wanted me to make the biscuit appear again and insisted that he wanted it NOW. Very frustrating to deal with still, though I understand that it is part of T2 phase. Sigh.

April/May photos













Marcus enjoying a splash and wash.















Marcus playing at his 'concert' and looking shy in Elmo's company.



















Nicholas just woke up from nap and relaxing in his "Mercedes".









Nicholas looking cool...





























Both boys enjoying driving. First try for Nicholas. See how my baby loves it! :D


Monday, June 4, 2007

Seoul, Talkative Nicholas, School

We had such a lovely holiday in Seoul, first time without the kids. and wow.. as much as we both love the kids, it is such a break. We did miss the babies so much though and talked about them so much. The night we left for airport, we kissed and cuddled Marcus who was going to bed and when he saw us carrying our luggage out of the house, he suddenly realised what was going on, despite our explaining long before, and sadly he looked at us and said 'marcus not going'.. aww.. we felt guilty straightaway about leaving them behind. Anyway, great to be back and to be able to cuddle and kiss them. Nothing beats having our own babies.

Chic-chic has become super talkative just after a week. So fun to listen and watch him "talk" so much about and to anything and everything. I am going to miss this stage so much in future though there are always new developments to look forward to. He is so inquisitive all the time and idolizes Marcus so much and fascinated with everything that Marcus does/says. His personality is slowly emerging now and I can see how he is quite a go-getter too, just like Marcus. :) While he is a sweet little baby who smiles a lot, he is definitely not a shy and easygoing boy who makes no demands. In fact i can see the way he socialises that he already has his own ideas of what he wants/dislikes and is not easy to change his mind. Marcus was like this too and we are always pleased about it. However I do make it a point to encourage their inquisitive minds and not to say "no" unless it is a matter of grave danger or when absolutely necessary and i am sure that it has positively affected Marcus' development when he was younger. I must still make more efforts to take the boys out 1 to 1 more often. I realise how much Marcus adores me whenever he is out with me alone, it is always when papa is around that I get demoted. Else, I'm still #2 in his heart. But with N, I'm his first love, so for now, it is enough consolation and I try not to be affected by it. Enjoy the babies while I can.

School
It is evident that Marcus has come to enjoy school very much. He is always smiley when we pick him up from school and whenever I peeped at him, he always seems to be having fun. Got to know a mother whose daughter attends same class as Marcus and she told me that Marcus' school is one of the 3 Montessori pre schools she found in Singapore which is true to the method and she knows because she was formerly a Montessori-trained teacher who taught in 2 schools in Singapore for 4 yrs. While selecting schools for her gal, she actually went to most of the Montessori schools, so she did her research. Though I didn't need any cofirmation from someone else and it is unlikely that my opinions would change much even if she or someone else were to tell me otherwise, it is nevertheless very good to hear such excellent reviews about my choice. Anyway, fees just went up for his next term and I am still quite horrified by how expensive his preschool education (plus SM) is per month. I think it works out to about $800/mth. Hmm..

I took Marcus to SM yesterday and it was truly amazing to see how good his memory is when it comes to matters of his interests. At the flash memory segment whereby modes of transport pictures were used, he got 8 out of 10 cards right in the correct sequence and I could only remember 3 myself!! gosh! And he was so fast at the segment (don't know the name) in which he was given a picture of a swan and required to arrange the soft shapes to form that picture. He was the first to complete it without any help from me. We got back the assessment from SM which detailed his development in the Physical, Perception, Social and Linguistics skills as comparison to the 'what it should be' standard for kids born in the same month as M. His physical dev was within expectations for those born in Sept 04, and above expectations for the last 3 categories. However I doubt the accuracy of this assessment since it is based on the answers given by parents to a set of approx 200 questions. While I tried to answer as honestly as I could, there were also many questions in the "physical dev" segment which I had to leave blank since i had not "tested" him before, so I wasn't sure if he could do them or not.

Chatted with friends recently about enrichment classes and very interesting to hear what others' views are. While some send their lil ones to too many 'schools', others I know view such activities as "unnatural" and prefer their kids grow up without stress and naturally. Which makes me wonder why is 'our' way of growing up any more natural than other ways and how ignorant many young educated parents still are as they view 'child's play' as waste of time and enrichment classes as stressful. I certainly don't agree to sending babies to classes since I know I can do a much better job than many enrichment classes, unless it is something quite extraordinary. But i also don't subscribe to the views of 'growing up naturally' means not playing with toys, though it need not be fancy toys with flashing lights and music and run on batteries.

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