Miss Slowcoach

I have a little Miss Slowcoach. She is very very slow in drinking her milk, going to toilet, brushing her teeth, wearing her shoes etc. Takes her ages to do these activities. Well, at least she's good at brushing her teeth. She'll make sure she brushes her teeth properly because she doesn't want to get black decayed teeth with holes in them and ugly black fillings like her mommy. Hahaha. Very effective way to get her to brush teeth is to show her mine. :P

Even her teacher in kindy has told me that she does things very slowly. Takes her time in the toilet and takes her time packing her stuff when the bell rings. She's usually one of the last to leave the classroom, usually after the teacher even.

Anyone else has a Miss or Mr Slowcoach at home and what do you do to make them go a little faster? I would love some ideas as I'm tired of shouting "Hurry Up!"

Freehand drawing

Sometimes when I'm lazy to organise craft time, I just hand the kids some drawing art paper, colored pens or color pencils and tell them "Here, draw anything you like." (and stop disturbing me) .

At one of these freehand drawing sessions recently, this is what they drew.

This rocket and cars picture was drawn by my 4 year old boy. He even drew an smiling astronaut somewhere in the picture. See if you can spot him. Haha.

This rainy scene picture was drawn by my 6 year old girl. When the kids draw the sun or the moon, it always has a smiling face. :)

Freehand or freestyle drawing is great. It encourages creativity and gives me more time. The kids will be occupied for at least an hour while they are at it. So, next time you don't know what to do with the kids and they are pestering you every 5 minutes, tell them.. "Here, draw anything you like." ;)

He loves his food

My boy loves his food. He likes to try new foods and he likes to eat several foods at the same time. Theres a name for that. Greedy! Lol!

Anyway, recently he spotted some nice tea time desserts on the table during lunch. Right after his very filling lunch he asked "What time is tea?" "Can we have tea now?"

"No, not now! We just had lunch!" I told him as I was washing the dishes. "Tea time is 3 o'clock."

"How about 2 o'clock?" he tried to bargain to which he got a "No" for an answer.

Right after I finished washing the dishes, he came up to me and asked "Is it 3 o'clock now?" *rolls eyes*

The funny thing about kids is how quickly they get hungry when they see something they like and full when they see something they don't!

My Little Author

My girl likes to "write" stories. She is always penning words down on pieces of rough paper and showing it to me saying "Look, mama, read my story." I encourage her love for reading and writing by stapling papers to make them look like a book and asking her to make up her own storybook.

The other day I bought her a colorful notebook and asked her to write her own story. This is what she wrote.

Note: I have substituted the names she used in her book. Mary for her name and John for her little brother but the rest are included just as she wrote it, together with the incorrect spellings and manglish used.

Mary's bedroom full of hearts and flowers.

Once upon a time, Mary's bedroom was full of Heart's. mummy asked mary why her bedroom was full of Heart's. Mary said, "it is a catoon (cartoon) bedroom, thats why." "oh, said mummy. "oh" that's why said mummy, again. so, mummy went back to the kitchen.

"oh, mummy How does your bedroom look like?" asked Mary. "it's not cartoon, said mummy. "because why?" asked Mary. mummy said, "because big people don't need cartoon bedrooms aready, that's why, " "oh", said Mary. Oh, mummy but what about daddy and john asked Mary, walking away. john got cartoon but daddy no cartoon.

now i know why daddy no cartoon becuase He's big! that's why said Mary sofely (softly). yes, said mummy. "Yes, its ceret (correct)", said mummy again. "ok goodnight" said Mary to mummy. "Goodnight Lah", said mummy angrily. "don't disturb me" said mummy. "don't disturb mummy lah, said daddy. mummy needs rest, said daddy again.

no, but i want to talk to mummy or chet chat (chit chat) about school.

mummy needs rest and tomorrow mummy cannot take care of you How? but, i still wanted to sleep with mummy. cannot said daddy, yes said Mary

soon, daddy and Mary were talking about yes no yes no until the wholeeee bedroom was fulllll of noise until one by one they all fell asleep john 1 mary two mummy 3 and daddy 4 all fell asleep. goodnight said everyone to everyone.

The story had many mistakes but then I think its not bad for a 6 year old.

I had a great laugh when I read her story especially the last part which is like a chapter taken from our bedtime conversations. Lol! Anyway, I think that encouraging her to write is a great way to teach her the language. I can then correct her spelling mistakes and show her where she should use capital letters or add her commas, inverted commas etc. I should also tell her that we should not write the way we speak ie Manglish as that is the incorrect or improper usage of English.

Apart from teaching her spelling and grammar, I also get a little peep into whats going on in her little mind. Its a very nice exercise overall and I shall continue to encourage her love for reading and writing.

Think before you speak

The kids were being naughty again and I was mad and said this....

"Eeeeyeea. I can't understand why you all must be so naughty everyday. Why can't you be good for just one day!"

My girl replied hopefully....

"One day only?"

Sometimes kids have the knack to make you sound really stupid don't they?