Starting Tweedle Wink..

@ 1 year 8 months 1 week and 2 days old..by mommy..

Call me a kiasu mom..yes, we enrolled Isabel to Twiddle Wink last week. It has never come to my mind that I needed to send Isabel to any enrichment centres/ schools at such an early age.

When Darren was at this age, I "homeschooled" him by teaching him myself and brought him to playgroups. I didn't see the reason why I needed to send him "outside" to learn while the mommy here can do a little bit teaching here and there for him..(I am not a teacher by profession and I was doing it trial and error..more for my own fun learning togethter with him..) It was until I conceived Isabel and have no energy to continue the "teaching" part and he was already 3.5 years old, only then we decided to send him to nursery.

But Isabel is totally differnt. First of all, I don't have the luxury to spend so much time with her. Sad to say that I hardly spend any "quality time" with her. Everyday to me is rushing and rushing, just to handle their basic needs, for 2 kids. Honestly I feel bad, but I really couldn't bring out the energy, motivation and time.

Surprisingly, despite the very little "teaching" time I have for her, she is learning fast...on her own, especially this 2 months. Probably due to her improvement in speech development (or maybe ipad), she mastered A-Z, 1-10, major body parts (even eyebrow), colours, shapes, animals + pets and other day to day items on her own. I am amazed...all of us are amazed...

Only then, I realised that if I don't continue tapping on this potential of hers, it will be a waste. She is really like a sponge. She is absorbing information every minute and she is learning fast. I don't want to waste this golden opportunity of hers to learn more things, important skills and lifelong skills.

Then, right brain training came to my mind. Surveyed a few and Shichida needs 6-9 months waiting period. I don't want to waste this 6-9 monts of hers, so we chose Twiddle Wink. We attended their workshop and there and then, we signed her up.

It is expensive...very expensive I think..but this is something that we can provide her at this age as this is the golden period for her to train her right brain. Once she reached 6-7years old, no matter how rich you are also, the effect will not be as good as now. This is the best time for right brain training.

It was a "stressful" decision. Of course hubby strongly supported this decision. It was me, that wonders..is it worth it? However, we never know if we don't try it out. I don't have the skills and materials to do it myself, I also don't have the knowledge to do it too. So, we have to let other people earn the money lor. Anyway, it was a good mother daughter bonding time too.

So, Isabel attended her first lesson this week and I was proud to say that she is responding well to it. Luckily we brought her there last week and she has already familiarised with the environment. So, she has no fear when we first reached there. She even called the teacher "jia jia". Hahaha...so cute of her...

Though I still need to always attract her attention back to the teacher and tv, it was not that bad after all. She will do some of the activities, then started to roam around again. She especially likes the animal stickers on the wall and kept saying "elephant, jifaff (girrafe), jibra (zebra)". She also likes the barney outside the play area. She tried many times going to the door and wanted to go out and look for the Barney.

Overall, we still manage to get her attention when needed and one thing good about her (mommy feels proud of her) is she is willing to give back the "item" and help put back into the box after the activity is finished. She will not want to hold it on and refuse to give back.

She is definitely very happy there. She has fun exploring the place. Though I felt very tired after the session, it is worth it. Firstly, that 1 hour is a very productive bonding time for us; secondly, it gives me motivation to spend more time teaching Isabel at home. (I am setting up a learning area for Isabel in the guest room). I am learning too and I intend to teach Darren using the same information too.

Well, hope that this program will benefit Isabel and make the money well spent. I still think it is really expensive..

I cannot accept "NO", "CANNOT" and "SCOLD" and "HIT HIT"..

@ 1 year 8 months 1 week and 1 day old

Since about a week ago, I cannot accept the word "No..no..", "cannot", "scold" and "hit hit", though the person who delivered this word to me has no intention in scolding or lecturing me.

Mommy said I am a bit way too sensitive. Sometimes it is just a soft warning of "No no..Isabel", my crocodile tears will immediately emerged from my eyes and the drama will begin. Not to mention it is not easy to calm me down after that.

Drama Queen, mommy think of me..maybe I "over-react" with those words, but I really don't like to hear it. So, now everyone has to be very careful in their speech, to avoid those "sensitive" words...especially in the public...

Well, I am a girl..I entitle to be a bit more "manja", "sensitive" and "over-react", isn't it?

A detailed 20 months milestones updates

It has been a long time since I updated Isabel's milestones. She has grown up so much till that I find it hard to keep track of her milestones monthly. Let's see what she has been up to today...

Sleep
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1. She is sleeping better this month. She has stopped midnight feed. If she wakes up in the middle of the night, usually I just need to carry her, comfort her a while or give her the pacifier and put her down and she will sleep again. I can say that she has started sleeping through the night in her 19 months. (keeping fingers crossed)

2. Proud to say that she is still sleeping on her own in her own room now.

3. I am putting her in a sleeping sack during night time(thanks mil to sew one for me), so that she cannot climb out from the playpen when she wakes up. She can climb up the playpen now and had been very adventurous with that.

4. She likes to hug her soft toys to sleep at night. It can be her minnie, mickey, pooh bear, or bear bear and now she has a new doll doll. She also has her 2 favourite bolsters.

5. Her normal sleeping time range from 9.30pm to 10.30pm and wakes up between 8.00am to 9.00am. Her first nap will be 11.30am - 12pm and wakes up latest by 2pm. Second nap starts around 5pm - 5.30pm and wakes by latest by 7pm. Her nap lasts around 1.5 to 2 hrs each. We will wake her up if she didn't wake up the time she supposed to. But lately she has started waking up as early 7.15am. Usually I will give her morning feed at this hour and most of the time she will sleep again till 8am+.

6. When she wakes up in the morning, she likes to laze around in the room/on the big bed for a while. Then slowly, she will venture to the floor and laze on the floor and later starts playing with her toys in the room. She likes to lie on big pillow. Certain days, she likes to sleep on the big bed. SHe likes to lie on kor kor's bed every time she gets into our room.



Eat
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1. Didn't like her food but love adults food. Still doesn't like porridge and needs fish on EVERY meal. She also like to spit out the porridge like a process machine. Need to put on her favourite show, then she will eat nicely. SHe will spit out any chunky part of the food and I still need to blend her porridge for easy feeding.

2. She can finish a bowl of porridge and a big slice of fish every meal. Her porridge contains at least 2-3 times of vegetables (green and orange colour) with ikan bilis soup. Daddy fillet the fish for her.

3. She started on babies tit bits this month and we also start letting her try on a variety of adults food like fried rice, noodles, fries.

4. She likes fruits. Especially orange and apple and banana. She will look for hubby for fruits every evening after our dinner time. Her eyes are very sharp and her nose is very sensitive. She can see/sense that Darling is taking out fruits from the kitchen while she is playing or can smell if Darling is peeling orange and will run to him pastering for "oran..oran...".

5. I have started introduce her "misua" with soup this month. She seems to accept it well. I need to slowly introduce her a variety of "grown up" food soon.

6. She loves bread. Whenever she sees bread, she will want to eat it. She also loves raisins. Honestly, I have not been adventurous with her in food as she is so fussy with her main meal, that I stopped exploring her with other food that has strong taste. I am afraid she will rejects her plain porridge more once she has tasted other food.

7. Most of her teeth is out, except the lower and upper Canine. However, I can see that it is growing and has already cut through her gum. I am not sure her 2nd molar has out or not but if I remember correctly, it seems like out already.



Play
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1. She is one playful girl. Her favourite playmate is her brother. She plays very wild with her brother. She is one "monkey see, monkey do" - just follow what the kor kor does and try to do it on her own. Example, kor kor jumps, she attempt to jump too even though she has not mastered the jumping skill yet. Kor kor lie down on the floor, she will do the same. Kor kor dance, she will dance too. She is very happy when she is her kor kor and even happier when the kor kor started running because she will start chasing after him and mommy will have to scream (usually at the kor kor) to stop them from running.

2. She loves to play ball, puzzles and bubbles. She is good in fixing wooden puzzles. She loves to draw too (learn from kor kor).

3. She can stack the wooden blocks (she will count 1,2,3.up to 5) or lego blocks like a tower.

4. She started some pretend play with her doll doll like feeding them milk or food.

5. She can play better without kor kor around. She can play on her own for some time without our help. But with kor kor around, she will usually disturb him, fight toys with him and just run around with him.

6. She loves playing her iPad. She can handle the iPad very well, selecting her games, choose her songs/videos in youtube and navigating the screen.

7. I allocate one session of structure play time with her in my room everyday.



Speech
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1. Improved a lot in her speech this month. She has started saying 2 syllabus words and starting to form 2 words sentences like

- I do, I play, I see, I take..
- never mind, good morning, thank you, eye brow

2. She can tell me "ng ng" or "shit shit" after she has passed her motion. SHe will point to her belly button or naked body and say "shame shame". She will say "share share" if wanted something from someone else. "She will say "mum mum" when she wants to eat. She will say "bathe bathes" when I take off her clothes and lead her to the washroom. She can say "walk walk" if she wants to come down from stroller or tricycle. She will say "milk milk" if she wants milk. Basically she starts to convey her message through speech.

3. She can say other words like "chair, park, pants, iPad, princess, halo, bye, bread, drink, kai kai, fish, drop, hoorey, pretty, dirty, ball, bubbles, baby, mommy, daddy, kor kor, gong gong, aunty, uncle, grandma, grandpa, poh poh, jia jia, mei mei, di di, book, nice, play, phone, doll doll, bear bear, hat, tacle (spectacle), tiker (tickle), geli, itchy, bite bite, cream, milk, apple, oran (orange), star, quare(square), shoe, berd (bird), dog, cat, number 1-12, most of the alphabets........(can't recall all)

Intellecture
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*what I mean "know" here is she can actually it out.

1. She knows 1-10.

2. She knows 90% of the alphabets. Sometimes some of our hair drop on the floor and form a shape like an alphabet, she will point to us and tell us it is a c or g or s.

3. She knows shapes like square, star, triangle, circle.

4. She knows colours like red, blue, green and yellow.

5. She knows the body parts like, eye, nose, mouth, ear, eye brow, hair, head, hand, leg, belly button (she calls this "shame shame").

6. When we go to car park, she will point at the pillar and read to us the numbers or alphabets that printed on it. When we enter the lift, she will read out the numbers or alphabets (G, LG,C) at the buttons or screen in the lift.

7. She is good in playing one of the iPad game that shows 3 to 6 alphabets and she has to point to the right alphabet after hearing what the iPad says. She gets it almost all right most of the time, unless she is not paying attention. She will follow the ipad to say "good job, perfect, hoorey" after she get it right.

8. She can hum ABC song and twinkle twinkle little star. She will try to sing and only manage to utter the last word of each sentence.

Social
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1. She is more socialable as compare to her younger days. She is willing to greet people.

2. She loves to play with children.

3. She is closer to her grandparents nowadays.

4. She is willing to sayang(hug), shake hand, hi-5, flying kiss with people when asked to.

5. She is willing to say "halo xxx" and "Bye" (together with waving her hand).

Physical skills
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1. She can jump a bit - learn from kor kor.

2. She runs very fast.

3. She attempts to walk up the stairs by holding on to the side bar.

4. She can climb on to our bed. SHe is very good in climbing. She can even climb out from her playpen. She can climb on any grill and safety gate too.

5. She can kick a ball. She can throw a ball.

6. She always wanted to sit on a slide but we are afraid to let her slide down on her own. But I can sense that she is an adventuorus girl. She likes "thrill".

7. When she sees me taking out her meal, she will sit on her booster seat by herself and pull the tray in on her own.

8. She can sit on a children chair on her own and attempt to stand on chair.

9. She tries wearing pants and socks on her own.

10. She can put on her spectacles on her own. If the spectacles get misallign, she can adjust the spectacle herself.

Emotional
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1. SHe is very sensitive and emotional girl. She is also very manja. SHe is also a little timid.

2. SHe will run to daddy and wants daddy to bau bau (carry) when daddy comes back from work.

3. SHe will run to me and demanded me to bau bau her too when she sees me coming back from somewhere.

4. When she sees/hear kor kor cry, she will get affected and started crying too.

5. When she hears some sad song/melody, her eyes will get red and fill with tears and not long, she will start crying.

6. She likes to say "scared scared"..sometimes to loud sound, lights or something I don't know. When she is scared, she will lung herself towards me and hide her face in my body. But at times, loud thunder also doesn't affect her. I can't foresee what really frighten her. I suspected sometimes it could be her being too manja.

Overall, she is defintely not a baby anymore. She has grown up a lot and I find that she is more matured. I can't recall Darren knowing so much at this age. SHe is definitely a smart girl and I think she is very adorable too..hahaha...well, which mother doesn't think their own kids are the cutest in the world right?

Anyway, Isabel, mommy wanted to tell you, you are really the gem in the house and you bring us so much joy and laughter. Everyone just love you so much...and mommy love you HEAPs too...muaks..muaks...