学成语

我一向很注重华语。我觉得华语是一个很美丽的语言。偏偏这年代的学生大都排斥它，真叫人遗憾。

在家里我都尽可能用华语与儿子交谈。但在他从婴孩起，家中就有了个印尼女佣，爸爸又不精通华语， 所以家中的主要语言是英语。儿子从小就英语了得，而华语他就差很多。直到他三岁生日过后，印尼女佣回家了，我才快马加鞭，赶紧把儿子的华语补进。

我以前的中学是中正中学，是纯华校。华文老师常常逼我们背成语。虽然不喜欢背书，但也为了应付考试而背了。虽然不是名列前茅，但我的华语也算是顶呱呱的。我尤其喜欢成语，总觉得它很美，就凭四个字，就能把事情或事物形容得凛凛景致。再加上我早已把它给牢牢记上了，要我教成语是如鱼得水。

有些朋友建议我教儿子三字经和唐诗。坦白说我对唐诗毫无兴趣，叫我怎么教得来呢? 而三字经嘛，我又过不了自己这关说‘人之初，性本善’。对于我而言，‘人之初，性本恶’才是。这么多的顾虑，算了，就教成语吧！

我尽量都教儿子日常生活会接触到的。比如说，很多人是人山人海，很多车是车水马龙，很多颜色是五颜六色。说也奇怪，他似乎也喜欢四个字的成语，学习的进度让我惊讶。如今他已能掌握这些成语及它们的用法：

满头大汗
凉风习习
乌云密布
倾盆大雨
慢条斯理
车水马龙
人山人海
四脚朝天
头破血流
雨过天晴
五颜六色

Food Companions

Those who know my family would likely know that AJ is an extremely sloooow eater. Every meal is min. 1hr – breakfast, lunch & dinner. It started since the day he was born. When he was liquid diet, it was the same. Feeding time is like wasting time.

Though he now eats on his own, he cannot be left alone to finish his meal. He will usually not take up the spoon without us nagging, scoldinging or bringing the bowl to him. Since he takes this looong to eat, I will usually eat with him & when I have finished my meal, I will do my work on the computer while monitoring him to eat (and of course, nag, scold & bring the bowl to him).

I am most envious of parents with kid(s) who love to eat. It has never happened to my son so far. He doesn’t go to the refrigerator door & attempt to open to search for snacks. He never says he is hungry before. Wah, sounds like he can go without food huh.

To entice him to eat within the 1 hour (else it could be 1.5 to 2 hours), these are his food companions during his meals … … Arnott’s crackers, rice cake, Korean seaweed, Japanese seaweed, cornflakes, seaweed crackers, etc. Anything crunchy, crispy & savoury goes well. Honestly, I can’t live without them yet. They keep me sane during mealtimes.

Melbourne & Tasmania - 2 to 24 Dec'09

AJ & myself left for Melbourne on 2 Dec night. I have booked for Air India & it turned out to be a nice surprise - a SQ airbus due to the Star Alliance arrangement. The plane was almost full with pockets of 1 seat vacant here & there. The couple who sat next to us suggested to us to change seats with the man sitting in front of us. There were 2 men occupying 4 seats thus I could have 3 seats (2 for AJ to sleep). Thank God that he was agreeable to change seats with me & thus AJ was able to sleep for 5 hrs on the 7 hrs flight.

This is the first time I stayed with James & Pauline in their new house (I called that palace because it is really big – 5 bedrooms, 3 lounges, kitchen & dining area). It is nice to visit Melbourne once again after 8 yrs. Melbourne has changed a little. I noticed that there are more cars on the road now. Pauline said there are many Mainland Chinese migrants nowadays. Well, they spoilt the property market once again by flooding it with liquidity, buying houses on hard cash, making property prices sky high.

AJ’s cough got worse in the harsh climate, so much so that it has developed into asthmatic cough. Thank God for a doctor friend of the King’s family (Pauline’s parents) who gave us free consultation. We only have to pay for the medication.

My friend Pauline’s elder son Joshua was having Christmas recital on 7 Dec and we went to watch. It gave Andrew a good idea what a recital is since he has missed the one from his music school. Incidentally, Preacher Paul’s elder son Timothy was also performing on the same night at the same place because both children have the same piano teacher.

We went to Chesterfield Farm, not far from Pauline’s place on 8 Dec. It was quite a comprehensive farm, we saw many animals. Apparently, Andrew is not used to farm. He dislikes long grass, haha. But he had the chance to milk the cow, which was quite an experience.

We went to Werribee Open Range Zoo on 12 Dec with Pauline’s family. Though Singapore has one of the best Zoo, the open range Zoo is no where to be compared. Animals have plenty of space to roam around. The Safari Tour Bus Guide was interesting. We also went to Botanical Garden in Cranbourne with Pr. Paul’s family on 14 Dec.

We headed to Tasmania on 16 Dec night, almost immediately after AJ’s father touched down in the morning. It wasn’t interesting on 17th because it rained heavily throughout in Tasmania - Hobart. Thank God it was sunny on 18th & we were able to visit Port Arthur – the Convict Trail. We literally spent the whole day there. Too bad, we have to leave on 19th evening so after checking out, we visited Richmond town. It was just too short a trip in Tasmania to visit other places, sigh.

AJ had another round of cough & runny nose when he returned to S’pore. This boy’s immunity system is so low, it really caused me a great headache. I am so afraid of exposing him to a group of children, fearing that he will catch another round of virus again. Sigh, I pray that he will be stronger with the regular TCM intake & as he grows older.

AJ's 2009 Praises

This is AJ's video clip on night of praise 31/12/2009 in Church.

New Digital Piano

This is Andrew's new Yamaha Claninova Digital Piano which we bought during the year end Yamaha promotion. We sold our old Yamaha Digital Keyboard through ebay. The father & I were debating whether to get an acoustic piano or a digital piano. While an acoustic piano can possibly last him till Grade 8 & beyond, it doesnt provide the flexibility of other functions. The technology in digital piano is so advance now that the touch & feel of the keyboard is so close to the traditional acoustic piano. It also has many functions which can help to keep a yound child interested in piano. It can probably last AJ till Grade 3 or 4 only. After these considerations, we decided to get the digital piano instead. And when he advances to higher level, we will then switch to acoustic, when he is more sure with his direction on music.

The Yamaha Claninova Digital Piano is now his new toy. He meddled with the functions more than us & probably knows the features more than us.

Birthday Photos

We have been quite busy since the maid left us for good in mid Nov. I am also home schooling AJ for his Pre-nursery & Nursery years. This boy is so prone to falling sick so I think I had better take the opportunity to build up his immunity first before exposing him to community living.

These are the photos taken from his 3rd birthday celebration. I am hoping we can throw a party or something when he turns 4. We'll see how it goes.

Camera for Birthday Present

AJ gave me a pleasant surprise recently, one morning when I was in the bathroom. My ex-colleagues bought him a magnetic easel stand when he can write/draw on the white board with the markers or use the magnetic numbers/alphabets to form simple equations or words. That morning he made 99 + 2 = 101. I am pretty impressed. Even though in Kumon he was given the opportunity to learn up to 220 & is now doing addition of XX + 2 = XX, he hasn’t reached addition up to 3-digit yet. From this, it tells me that he has understood the addition of 2 regardless of the numbers. All thanks to Kumon’s learning materials.

AJ likes to take my mobile phone to snap photos, especially sequential shots. And I always had a hard time deleting them because there are simply too many. One day, he took my mobile phone to take photos again. But this time, more. He deleted ALL my notes stored on the phone and ALL my appointments. It was too late when I discovered it. From then onwards, I did not lend him my mobile phone any more. But I would still want him to enjoy snapping photos, to keep this hobby alive. So the husband & I agreed to buy him a camera for his birthday.

I went to Toys”R’us & saw 2 types of children camera. 1 for 3+ years old costing around S$130 & the other for 5+ at half the price. The former looks like a toy literally, the latter looks like a real camera. Which one do you think AJ would like? The ‘real’ one, of course. He has been playing with real mobile phones, why would he want to play his toy mobile phone?? So I bought the ‘real’ camera for him & get a surprise S$10 off as a Toys’R’us member :-D

We are going to celebrate AJ’s birthday on 7 Nov (Sat) with my sister’s family. Will upload some photos then.

School Suspended

AJ's bronchitis is back, just after 1 week of rest. He is like a walking bucket of mucus and phlegm. Sleep to him becomes a chore. He dislikes going to sleep now as the block nose will cause him breathing difficulty and his phlegm will cause him to cough and vomit. It is very painful to see him going through all these. We reckon that he is probably not ready for big community living, because I remembered he also fell sick after 3 consecutive days of VBS in my church during the June school holiday. So we called the school and requested for suspension till possibly Dec'09 or Jan'10. Thank God that the lady owner is fine with the arrangement. Meantime, i went to TCM Hall and get 冬虫夏草 for him. With regular intake, i hope it will help to strengthen his lung.

My Saviour's Love

Andrew was taught to sing this song because I am putting a video of him for my FEBC project presentation. Lyrics:

Stanza 1
I stand amazed in the presence of Jesus the Nazarene
And wonder how He could love me - a sinner condemned, unclean

Chorus
How marvelous! How wonderful! And my song shall ever be
How marvelous! How wonderful! Is my Saviour's love for me

Stanza 2
He took my sins and my sorrows, He made them His very own
He bore the burden to Calvary, and suffered and died alone

34-mth Old

Andrew started attending school on 1st Sept and he enjoys every moment of it! School has done him some good even though he has just attended it for a few days. He is now eating slightly faster, he puts on his own sandals and takes them off himself. He attempts to wash his hands himself properly. Credit goes to the teachers, they have been encouraging the children there to do these things themselves.

We went to KL/Genting during end of August. As it was raining cats and dogs in Genting during our 3D/2N there so we were restricted to Indoor Theme Park only. Anyway, AJ is too young to know what he has missed, so it didn’t really matter to us whether it is Indoor Theme Park or Outdoor Theme Park, although air is fresher outdoor.

AJ recently had bronchitis. It got me really worried. The poor boy was like a walking bucket of phlegm. The doctor has prescribed steroid for him as there was no better way out. Thank God he can breathe better now.

Time flies, AJ is 34 months old now. In the next 2 months, he will be celebrating his 3rd birthday. What greater joy can there be than to see happy healthy smiley child?