Sunday 27 December 2015

Christmas 2015

You've been looking forward to opening all the presents under the tree and everyday you would ask me if it was time to open the presents yet. It was no surprise once we gave you the go-ahead to open the presents, you did so with great gusto! I'll upload some videos showing you in action later. For now, I'll upload some lovely family photos we took around the tree.







 Isaac was so excited to play with you! Hopefully next year you guys will be able to make the most of all the Thomas train sets we have at home.





Wednesday 25 November 2015

Recent photos - animations and collages

I backed up all my photos from my phone and found this nifty feature on the google backup that automatically creates animations and collages!

Here are some more recent photos that I haven't uploaded before.








Saturday 21 November 2015

2y8m - Tran family photos

We took some lovely photos with a professional photographer last month with Grandma, Grandpa and Aunty Yvonne. We had a lot of fun at a park/bay about 15mins drive away from our house. You especially loved playing in the sand and splashing in the water. Although the weather was a bit dark and gloomy, the scenery was beautiful and we got some lovely photos. You look so handsome and grown up in your little outfit and comb over.

Here are some screenshots from my phone. We are still waiting for the full files.













2y9m - An update on our cheeky monkey

You've grown so much and are so talkative now! Your vocabulary has improved a lot. Daddy and I are constantly surprised at the things you say. You're a little monkey with a strong and cheeky personality.

One day, you decided to make this little piggy face. The more we laughed, the more you made the face! You only did it for one day and then haven't done it since! Lucky I have photographic evidence.



You're still crazy about all things Cars. In fact, you insist on wearing a Cars t-shirt every day. I've bought so new Cars t-shirts in the last couple weeks as we can't keep up with the laundry. Your favourite train is still Gordon. In fact, we pack a "train bag" every time we go out and you always put a Gordon train in there.


Development:
- Counting to 100...and beyond! At night, we turn on a turtle light that beams the moon and stars on the ceiling. It's a routine that you want to count all the stars before you go to sleep. So each night, we count up to 100, though when you really don't want to sleep, you'll count 101, 102.... Suffice to say, it takes a long time before you fall asleep!
- A few months ago, you surprised us by counting backwards!

- You know how to spell your name. You know that Daddy is called David and Mummy is called Pauline. I'm trying to teach you to memorise our address and my phone number. You remember which bus numbers we catch to go to school.
- "Oh dear..." "Oh my goodness!" and the ever funny one that I'm sure you picked up from us, "Oh my gawd.....!"
- You love singing the Alphabet song and the Thomas song. Yesterday I got a cute video of you singing the Thomas song at breakfast.
- You know lots of colours in both English and Chinese
- When we ask you to speak Chinese, you'll start reciting the numbers. Grandma says you can count quite far in Chinese as well. Such a smart cookie.


Daycare:
You still cry when you drop you off for school. In fact, you sometimes start complaining before we even reach the door.
"I want to go home! I want to see Mummy! I don't want to go to school"

I'm told you calm down after a few minutes and happily play the rest of the day. I love picking you up from daycare because you're always so excited to go home! You'll shout loudly: "Bye everyone!" and run to get your shoes.

Here's a video from last month when I picked you up (2y8m):

Daycare pickup (2y7m) - look at that big smile!

Daycare pickup (2y5m) - I love capturing your reaction when you see me.

Just for fun, this was your reaction to seeing us when we picked you up from your first day at daycare:


Sunday 19 July 2015

Daycare story: Helping (2yo)

I love this story from daycare about you offering to help your teachers! Makes me so proud to see you demonstrate the values of sharing and helpfulness. When I see you with other children, I always notice how quickly you offer your toys to them, without me even asking you. You're so mature for your age.

Daycare story in May 2015

One Friday morning when I, Anna, noticed that there were no tissues left in the tissue box outside, Laleeta (the Preschool educator) volunteered to retrieve some from the storage cupboard located in the Laundry Room.

“Thank you, Laleeta!” I called out after her.
“No problem.” Laleeta replied, who began to make her way over.
Lucas, who was standing next to me, began to follow after Laleeta.
“Laleeta, I think Lucas wants to ask you something.” I said, just loud enough so Laleeta could hear me.
“Oh, yeah?” Laleeta said, turning around. She knelt down to where Lucas was standing to meet his eye level.
“What’s up, Lucas? Would you like to help me?” Laleeta asked.
“Yeah?” Lucas said, nodding his head.
“C’mon, let’s go!” Laleeta said, gesturing for Lucas to follow her towards the Laundry Room.
Laleeta propped the door to the Laundry Room open using a door stopper, and passed some light-weight objects over to Lucas.
Several minutes later, Laleeta and Lucas emerged, both carrying a handful of items.
“Wow, what a great helper!” I exclaimed.
Lucas proceeded to walk over to where I was and handed to me, one by one, the objects in his hands.
“Here…here.” Lucas said, as he handed each item to me.
“Thank you so much, Lucas.” I said with appreciation.


Another Toddler who happened to witness this verbal exchange, came over to get a better look.
“Me too!” the girl said.
"Meee tooo, I want to help!" another Toddler said excitedly.




It seemed Lucas’s helpful act had inspired other Toddlers to join in and offer assistance. What followed was a trip to the Laundry Room as a small group so more necessary items could be retrieved.

As educators, we regularly scaffold experiences for children to co-operate and work collaboratively with others. It was therefore wonderful to witness how Lucas’s act of kindness, of his own accord, ignited a spark and encouraged other children to join in. In other words, Lucas’s offering of help evolved into a collaborative offering of help. Such group experiences are wonderful because they help children in their development of a positive sense of identity and strengthens their interests and skills in being and becoming active contributors to their world. We are very proud of the helpful young man Lucas is becoming.

2y5m - Mummy's work trip

I was away on a work trip to America for 2 weeks and got back yesterday morning. It was the longest I'd been away from you and I missed you every day! Luckily we were able to do video chats while I was away. On one of the chats, I showed you a Gordon train that I had bought you. Imagine my surprise when I saw you in the morning and asked if you wanted to see your presents and your first excited words were: "Big Gordon?" You had remembered our conversation and obviously been thinking about Big Gordon!

So, in addition to Big Gordon, I also got you lots of Disney Car toys. You were so excited to show your new toys!




We had brunch with Daddy's friends yesterday and walked through a park to get to the cafe. I asked if you wanted to play on the playground after and you excitedly said yes. When we passed the park and didn't stop to play, you looked surprised and went, "Daddy! What happened?" It was so funny, I hadn't heard you ask that question before.

This is you after our brunch, walking back to the park. You look so cheery.

You're still a very cautious boy and you take your time to warm up to new adventures. I think it's because we coddle you so much and are a bit over-protective. Once you try something for the first time though, you get comfortable and can't wait to try it again!

Here is a video of you trying the new slide in this park for the first time. You can see how cautious you are and even said you were scared when you got to the top of the slide!


And here is a 2nd video of you feeling much more brave going up the big slippery dip. Check out the huge smile on your face as you are sliding down!






Tuesday 23 June 2015

Daycare story: Shapes

Daycare report - 17th June 2015

Lucas had a great time playing the hide and seek game that extend on our circle shape learning experience. “One, two, three, four, five.” He covered his eyes while he started to count. “Can you find circle shape?” the Toddler educator asked him. Lucas immediately started to look for the circle shape in the yard. “Here, red circle.,” he said as he waved the big circle that he had found under the beam. “Well done Lucas!” said his educator and his friends, giving him big clap and cheer. “Again, again,” Lucas asked his educator. We continued playing this game until lunchtime. Through this experience Lucas developed his learning, social skills and interaction skills with his peers.





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