Learning the numbers

I bought a “Home Edition” of Montessori materials more than a year back, after reading about the Montessori Method and being convinced of its sound basis as a means of assisting children learn the abstract via the concrete.

It was not cheap, and cost me close to 2 hundred dollars including courier from China, but the materials sold in Singapore were outrageously expensive (about 10 times more).

When the box of materials arrived, I opened it excitedly like a child on Christmas Day. After looking at the bewildering assortment of apparatus, it became evident that this was something to be done in stages, as my son matured slowly.

Chef Christian

I must have mentioned this before – Christian’s ambition, ever since we starting him asking the question, is to be a CHEF.

This is why he loves his book Doodle Cook and I am happy to indulge him in it since it helps him practice his pen-grip and hand control in a way that amuses him.

Yesterday, after finishing one of the creations “Thousand-Layer Cake” (it looks nothing like the kueh lapis of this region!), we had the following exchange:

Ch: You are the customer

Me (smiling): Yes. How much will you charge for this cake?

Ch: (beams and thinks for a moment): Er…two dollars. *nods*

Me (cheekily): Not 2 Kisses??

Ch (eyes light up and pauses before saying): Erm..1 dollar. 1 dollar only.

Me (trying to push it): How about 1 kiss?

Ch (grinning): No. 1 dollar only. Very cheap. Ok??

Me (pretends to be hurt): You’d rather receive money than kisses??

He frowns a little, and I sense him worrying about offending me, but I flash him a smile and he relaxes before blinking, nodding and saying “Yes!” =7

Ch: “After I finish keeping my tools I will open the cake and let you eat.

I love you customer…come again next week ok? Next week, when you come, I will make you a nice dish. Ravioli! I will make you ravioli!”

p/s I think the ravioli he had at The Alkaff Mansion must be, for him, the epitome of a great dish. What an atas boy.

Christian’s school artwork

When Christian first went to school, he’d come back with a folio of art and craft at the end of every term, after the meet-the-parent session.

I would put them in a box, but the amount of space devoted to his artworks started becoming outrageous. I read from another mummy online that a good way of preserving the art works is to take a picture of them.

So. Here is Christian’s artwork from Term 2 and 3 this year - 

Frog Jigsaw and Hanging Bird House

Toilet Humour

I can’t remember when I stopped bringing Christian to the public toilets, but delegated the task to P. I think it must have been when he stopped wearing diapers out, and was toilet trained.

In any case, it has been P’s task to bring the little boy to the men’s since a long time ago, and I am always tickled pink by the harrowing experiences P goes through almost every time he does so.

Once, P told me after bringing Ch to the toilet that our son touched the dirty toilet seat, the dirty toilet wall, before touching P on the face. Another time, it was Ch’s dirty poop-smeared fingers which touched P’s nose. And sometimes, I would stand outside and hear P’s shouts…which were the result of Ch not being able to resist his impulse to touch the dirty sink AFter his hands have been washed.

I thought things were much better now that Ch is almost 4…and I’ve not heard funny stories nor seen P’s look of exhaustion post-toileting for sometime now.

However, we were at 112 Katong today after going to the beach when Ch said he needed the loo. I waited at least 15 minutes for them, and wondered why it was taking so long, secretly anticipating the low-brow scatological humour that was coming.

The look on P’s face said it all, but I was puzzled when he started off by saying “Ch, tell Mama how nice the toilet here is…it has buttons and sprays for the buttock right?”

Ch started prattling on, and P told me that they were in the midst of trying to wash Ch’s buttocks with one of those sprays when Ch HAD to shift, causing poor P’s (whom I guess was kneeling down trying to clean Ch) face to get sprayed on instead.

I burst out laughing, and Ch quickly defended himself, saying “But it was ticklish Mama!”

ONE

Dear Calista

You turned one yesterday! I visited Aunty K and her new baby boy at TMC yesterday morning, and was struck with amazement at how exactly a year ago, I was at the same hospital giving birth to you. Holding baby K in my arms reminded me of how small you were when you were first born. That day seems so long ago, and yet, I am filled with wonder at how much you have grown since that day.

Your birthday celebration was a quiet affair; what with your maternal grandparents and most of mama’s and daddy’s good friends overseas. Instead of having a big do with people who don’t really care about whether you turn one or not =7 I spent the day in normalcy, and just took every opportunity to stare into your face or plant kisses all over you.

Christian’s 1st dental visit

I had been meaning to bring Christian to have his teeth checked for the longest time, but did not have time to do so when I was still working. Now that I am home for a while, I’ve been trying to tick off the items on my to-do-list, and so finally made an appointment to bring him to the dentist on Friday.

How did I decide on which dentist to go? Well, I googled and saw from some forums how expensive some recommended kid dentists can be. The other end of the spectrum is the polyclinic dentists, which P said are really cheap.

I wanted a place that was kid-friendly and non-intimidating, so that Christian will have a positive 1st encounter, and not fear going to the dentist. (Though on hindsight I suppose that is largely determined by the state of his teeth. If his teeth is full of holes, no amount of dressing up will overcome the trauma of the drill and filling.)

Anyway, I decided on Q&M after seeing some photos of their kid-friendly outlets. Hah. To prepare Christian for his visit, I read him “Topsy and Tim go to the dentist” many times over. I liked that the book had the twins go through different experiences. Tim’s teeth were perfectly fine, whilst Topsy had to have a filling done. The author was obviously careful to cover both scenarios, so that children do not go away with the mistaken impression that all visits to the dentist involve drilling and pain (which was unfortunately my impression of the school dental clinic!)

Here’s a pic of him at the kids’ waiting area. We found a plush teeth-mould!

He was full of questions on the way to the dentist’s room, which amused the dental assistant. The brightly decorated dental treatment room was also very pleasant and inviting. Christian was amused and kept asking what each equipment was for, and the young dentist kindly indulged him by showing him the water spray, the suction tube and ‘air blower’. The screen above the reclining chair was tuned to Cartoon Network, and the various soft toy monkeys and other kiddy toys left lying around all helped to ease Christian into lying down and complying with the masked stranger’s requests.

My son was so talkative…when the dentist said as an ice breaker that they were going to count how many teeth he had, Christian promptly said “I have 20! And 2 more hidden at the back.. you cannot see it!” The dentist was amused but counted nonetheless and proclaimed “NO HOLES!”

I was happy to hear that, and yet a little sad to think that I spent $99 just to have the dentist tell me that my son’s teeth are perfectly fine. Haha. Alright, he did use some grainy toothpaste to help clean Christian’s teeth, but the visit was over in 15 minutes.

They certainly make good money..and I couldn’t help being the quintessential kiasu mum when I asked Christian whether he would like to be a dentist in future, “just so (he) can help others”.