5 Minutes 5 Stones

3 Feb13- Sunday night 8.45pm:

Joanna climbed onto my lap while I was busy doing my work in my study.  She put her hands around me and quietly whispered... "Pa, can you play with me for 5 minutes. Just 5 minutes and I will give you my chocolate." Fact is, day before, I was craving for her Hershey bar in her hand and hastily, she swallowed the whole bar just so that big bad wolf, i mean big bad dad, could not taste it. ;(

Stung by her words, I paused. Wife yelled from outside- "Time to go to bed."

I realised the urgency. A plea not to be taken lightly. I beg for 5min and quickly scrambled to see what i can teach... I mean, play with her. She saw my frantic efforts and said, I want to play 5 stones. Honestly, a special gift from Moses, I have never really known how to play 5 stones. I recall in my childhood days little girls sitting in pairs facing one another and throwing the five stones up and down.... not much fun I must say. A futile attempt to re-play from my memories, she laughed at my folly and we started creating new games. One stone dropped on her and hit her little nose and we both laughed. Ended up, rather than playing it the 'right' way, we had fun just throwing the stones at each other and dodging one another.

"TWO MORE MINUTES.. " the familiar tone warned. I really wanted to make treasure this little bit of time.... rather than scrambling for a story book, I playfully created a story just by using the 5 stones and my own body.... I took the 5 stones on a journey round my legs, my knees, my tummy- big enough to create quite a terrain, my shoulders. I used Psalms 23 as my plot and imagined what would happen if Stoney A dropped into the caves from the mountain... how stoney B, C, D started fighting to be first, etc. Totally unscripted it was just awesom watching her captivated and listening attentively to my cooked up tales.

"Times up..." Sweetie whispered, "thanks daddy." I knew those were the two sweetest words that I will not take for granted.

A family treat to Bangkok

  We went to Bangkok for a family break.  Joanna is curious of the new scenery around her.

She likes the many colorful fishes and sharks in the Oceanarium in Bangkok.Of course, she enjoyed the fishes nibbling away at her feet together with mum. What a treat!

How do you stop a running nose?

Paste a Sticker over the running nose

Ride as fast as you can on yr giraffe

Pray to God

Sing a song

Try to make a friend laugh

Balance of free-play or guided-play?

Dad is truly perplexed.

Recently, dad and mum had seriously considered sending me to Uncle Eric's music school as they noticed that I love to sing and am pretty musically inclined. Mum also considered stretching me further by sending me to "Growing Up Gifted" based on Auntie Carol's recommendation that they have a strong child-centred curriculum. Moreover, Joshua also attended GUG when he was younger, and turned out... pretty well.  However, dad just found an old newspaper cutting from the Sunday Times.  The headlines shout out - LET INFANTS BE INFANTS (Sun Times, 6/7/2008, p30)

The editorial noted that the “rat race” for children which seemed to begin earlier these days, when babies were barely out of their mothers’ wombs.  Wow.... in fact, it was funny to know that an American infant-care specialist advocated that parents read to their toddlers when they were two or three months old- and with such a claim his workshop drew sell-out crowd last month. Here in Singapore, two centres which offered the Shichida method, devised by Makoto Shichida in Japan, claimed that all babies were born geniuses, had long waiting lists. Toddlers who attended Shichida classes were said to develop memory, creativity, and the ability to perform quick calculations.

So whats the verdict? Well the editorial opined that sending infants to “genius” classes could prove harmful, as children at that age could be taught to read and perform simple tasks, but not in a structured environment. They should be encouraged to explore and discover things around them freely to stimulate their curiosity and not be pushed to follow a tight schedule in a confined space. They explained that instead of sticking one’s child in a class, parents should instead take him for a walk in a park and watch his senses come alive in a free, natural learning environment.

Daddy daddy.... what will you do with me now???? :)

My (almost) first articulation of animal names

Dad and I read a book together tonight. The book- Grow, was very interesting as it showed many pictures of baby animals. Dad found it amusing though as I kept refusing to say COW when he pointed to it. I still preferred to call it- Mooo....

Anyway, Dad was so thrilled to hear me read together with him that he wanted to record my accomplishment. However, I was definitely more excited to see myself in the video, and became less cooperative to say the names of the animals in the book. However, you can still count on me to say "Hi" and "Bye" in the sweetest voice :)

Blanket Party

Be careful what you play with the kids.

It all started when we were role-playing lion dance. Yet, a simple blanket can transform to bring loads of fun... too excessive til they start perspiring profusely just before bed time. But thats where the laughter and motion triggers the kids natural way of flowing into imagination. Under the magical hideout, they find a safe haven to become secret agents, a piece of rock or enjoy a good game of boxing. Its fascinating to enter into their world of imagination. Its really like insightful to see how they use their ability to fantasize to visualise a highly complex cognitive act.

Much of it also has to do with how the kids FEEL- and the blanket was a convenient way to allow them to express their emotions in their most authentic manner. For example, I observed that after their mummy screamed at them, both of them quietly tugged into other under the blanket and remained 'mummy'-liked quiet. Little Joanna even peaked out and gestured me to join them in the silent protest.

I think as parents, we need to think hard on the selection of toys for our kids. I hesitated buying Josh another Ben 10 game last evening and thought hard on what games can best bring out the imagination of my kids. In the end, I rushed back home (without buying any toys) to engage in yet another round of our blanket party!

i learn to type on the keyboard

Hi I am joanna

happy to try blogging. I just woke up and was attracted to follow daddy type on his computer. I am a fast learner and people said i am very intelligent. I am a big and independent girl already.

And i love my brother Joshua

Love

Joanna