WFMW - How My Son Learnt To Blow His Nose

Hubby-jr, my five year old son, inherited his daddy’s nose albeit a sensitive one. This makes him terribly prone to a runny nose. I have tried many, many times to teach him how to blow his nose and have failed almost every single time. There was a moment or two where I thought he got it but nah, the next time he needed to clear his nose he just sucked it in rather than blow it out (ooohh). Somehow he just couldn’t get it.

That was until two days ago.

His nose was acting up again and it was getting just plain gooey. “Wipe it off your face with a tissue please and throw it afterwards! Do not wipe it off with your hands!!” Get my drift?

Anyway he obeyed me and soon afterwards he developed his own tissue game. And whaddaya know??! This game taught him how to blow his nose!

First, take a piece of tissue paper.

Next stuff it into the nose, just like this.

BLOW and out comes the tissue. (Sorry we couldn’t catch a shot of the tissue hanging in mid air.)

Ta da! Easy Peasy. He now knows how to blow his nose and if he forgets I’ll just stuff tissue up his nose! For more tips and such please head over here.

P/S: No icky stuff was dislodged in this demonstration. All gooey thingies were properly cleared beforehand.

How To Amuse Toddlers

Just as I wrote about engaging my two year old Little Missy, I came across this - How To Amuse Toddlers at Instructables.

This guy has wonderfully compiled a list complete with pictures and some instructions. I’ve done most of the activities with my kids and can vouch that they DO amuse toddlers. Having said that I still found the list very handy. So if you have to entertain little ones, go check it out.

Helping With The Dishes

Since the turn of the year, Little Missy dropped her late morning nap. This means that I have an active toddler for the whole morning! It has its fun side, she’s my little companion (shadow?), accompanying me while I grocery shop, run errands and even go on fun downtown trips (after Hubby-jr goes to school). When we’re not out, we enjoy slow mornings at home.

I’m cherishing these precious bonding moments with her as next year she’ll be attending playgroup sessions for 1½ hours in the mornings. (Sniff, my baby is growing up.)

The flipside is that she can sometimes (more than sometimes?) demand more attention than I can spare. It can be pretty annoying, not to mention a test of my patience especially when I’m trying to get the house chores done. She’ll keep yelling, “Mommy, come. MOMMY! COME! COME!!! MOMMY!!!” Yes, 2-year olds can be very persistent and often suffer temporary memory loss of the terms, No or Wait. “Later” to them means, a second later!

So I was so glad to stumble upon this “trick”. She now “helps” me wash dishes after lunch almost everyday. She’s happy just playing with water, soap water. Occasionally she “washes” a cup or bowl (plastic or melamine ones). Ya, well it is more of over-washing them in soap water…

It is brilliant. She’s happy and I hope she eventually does help me with real washing (one can hope right?). I get the dishes done and best of all, we have our bonding time over the sink!

Yes, this is how I do it. A dining chair, a sponge brush, a plastic bowl and some soap water (I usually give her more, she’s almost done in this picture). And oh yes, she usually needs a change of clothes after this. Next I’m getting her an apron!

Serendipity

Serendipity!

ser·en·dip·i·ty

1. The faculty of making fortunate discoveries by accident.

2. The fact or occurrence of such discoveries.

3. An instance of making such a discovery.

We found ourselves at Bras Basah this afternoon and being there I just had to visit the Children’s Bookstore. While the range of books was not as exciting as before I was so, SO thrilled to find Guji Guji on one of its shelves. We (kids and I) absolutely LOVE this story we found over at Storyline Online.

Guji Guji is a story about a crocodile who was brought up as a duck. One day Guji Guji is confronted with the question of his identity and where he belongs - is it with a group of mean crocodiles he just met or with the ducks he grew up with? A very lovely engaging story that will make you smile, warm your heart and teach you about identity, loyalty, and what it really means to be a family.

And guess what? It was selling at only SGD5.60 (SGD8.00 less 30%) per copy! A hardcover copy mind you! I grabbed a few copies as they’d make excellent gifts. I suggest you’d better hurry over there and grab a few too before they run out of stock! (Screams kiasu doesn’t it?)

More serendipity…

While I was at the Children’s Bookstore with the kids Hubby had to pay his pilgrimage to Tecman (a Christian bookshop). Not long later he scurried back to tell me that Tecman was having a 40% storewide sale for members (you can sign up on the spot for only SGD6.00). So we headed that way, kids and Guji Guji books in tow.

Guess what I found at Tecman?!

The Jesus Storybook Bible: Every Story Whispers His Name. It is the bible storybook. If you’re looking for bible stories for your kids, look no further, get this one. If you already have countless different bible story books for children, you have to get just one more, this one. After reading about it over here I bought one copy via Amazon.com (I couldn’t find it at several bookstores then). I can tell you this, it really is as good as is described. Hubby and I LOVE it because… (this is what is written at the back of the book)

The Jesus Storybook Bible tells the Story beneath all the stories in the Bible. It takes the whole Bible to tell this Story. And at the center of the Story, there is a baby, the Child upon whom everything would depend. From Noah to Moses to King David, every story whispers his name. Jesus is like the missing piece in a puzzle - the piece that makes all the other pieces fit together.

Beautifully written and illustrated. The Jesus Storybook Bible invites children to discover for themselves that Jesus is at the center of God’s great story of salvation - and at the center of their story too.

The sale ends 30 June 2008. So if you’re living in Singapore and you’re reading this before 30 June, stop reading, get dressed and hurry over to Tecman NOW!! Go! Go!! Go!!! Well if you’re reading this after 30 June, take your time but still get over there to get a copy of that book. It is WORTH it. In my opinion ALL Christian families with kids should have a copy. Seriously.

So there you have it, my wonderful unexpected fortunate discoveries of the day. Serendipities!

Great Sites For Kids

Shannon @ Rocks In My Dryer has compiled a LONG list of great sites for kids. It’s not just a list that goes on and on and on, she has actually categorized them. A great first stop to find wonderful online stuff to entertain our pride and joy(s)! Click on the icon below to get there. I’ll be putting it up on my sidebar too.

So far I’ve checked out KneeBouncers and StoryPlace. KneeBouncers’ great for my two year old girl and both my kids liked StoryPlace.

Coincidentally the list includes Storyline Online which I discovered via Pilgrim Parent and was just getting round to introducing it. It’s a delightfully wonderful site featuring stories read by actors/actresses. My kids may be too young to fully appreciate it but I personally was captivated by some of the stories. A definite MUST see!

Okay, I shall not hold you back any longer. Go knock yourself out and click away! 

WFMW - What Doesn’t Work For Me

I haven’t done Works For Me Wednesdays (WFMW) for awhile now but seeing this week’s theme, I couldn’t resist.

The first thing that popped to my mind was… screaming!!! By that I mean screaming at my kids to stop screaming. Totally DOES NOT work. They always end up screaming even louder than before (and yet I still find myself screaming at them at times!?)

Second thing that did not work for me was the pacifier.

No, I wasn’t dead set against the whole pacifier thing to begin with. Trust me, I was the regular desperate, stressed out new mom who tried everything to stop baby from crying and helped baby fall asleep. (Of course having colicky babies made me all the more desperate!)

So hubby and I tried the pacifier right from day one when baby arrived home. Baby took to it. Suck, suck, suck. No more crying? Woo Hoo! But wait… what’s that I hear a minute later? Waaaaaaaa! What happened? The pacifier dropped out. Okay, calm down. Just pick it up and put it back to baby’s mouth. There you go. Hmmm… sweet silence again… yah, right! Just seconds later, it falls out again and baby wails and we have to plug his/her mouth again. This cycle just went on and on and on… until baby got frustrated (and frankly so were we) and just flat out rejected the pacifier.

This didn’t just happen with baby no.1 but with our baby no.2 too.

In the end, our babies pacified themselves with their own thumbs (which somehow they naturally outgrew on their own). And eventually we got our babies to fall asleep on their own by letting them cry it out. After a few naps and night sleep they got it and just went to sleep on their own without fussing.

Yes, we tried carrying the baby to sleep initially, especially in the evenings (they were colic!). But that didn’t work either. After a while, they’d cry to sleep even when we were carrying them. So I figured, “if you’re gonna cry to sleep even when I’m carrying you (yes, even rocking didn’t help), well baby, I’d just put you down and let you cry yourself to sleep!”

Of course it was terrible to hear the crying but it was well worth the pain. Putting them down for naps or night sleep became a breeze. Just a song or two and down they’d go wide awake and they’d just doze off on their own.

For other stuff that does not work (for them) click over here.

Teaching “My” and “Your”

Even as Hubby-jr speech development is progressing well, he still lags behind his peers. One key problem area is in using “I”, “You”, “My”, “Your”. He frequently mixes them up or just refers to himself by name.

To address this, his speech therapist introduced these two activities. The second is a progression of the first.

First Speech Activity

She played a simple game in which she and Hubby-jr had to take turns. After playing for a while and Hubby-jr understood the rules of the game, she stopped and asked, “Whose turn is it now?” His natural reply was “his name” (if it was his turn) or “teacher” (if it was the speech therapist’s turn). She’d then intervene and teach him to say, “It’s Hubby-jr, MY turn” or “It’s teacher’s, YOUR turn”. She’d ask the question, “Whose turn is it now?” at every “turn” requiring my son to reply correctly each time before the game could proceed.

After he got the hang of this, he was taught to drop the name and just say, “It’s MY turn” or “It’s YOUR turn”. But she was the one always asking the question and all answers came from Hubby-jr. Back home I did this exercise with him too but with different games.

Second Speech Activity

As a progression, she played this very simple game with Hubby-jr. Sitting face to face, it’d start with her giving specific commands to which my son had to respond. “Touch my nose” (he’d have to touch the therapist’s nose), “Touch your nose”, “Touch my shoulder”, “Touch your lips” and so on (you get the idea). If he made a mistake, she’d repeat the command and guide his hand to the correct place.

After he got the hang of this, he’d get his turn to give the commands and the speech therapist would respond. The game then became one where both of them would alternate in giving the commands and always required the use of “my” and “your“.

This is quite a fun game which my son enjoys. I’ve played it a few times with him at home too.

Since the above exercises he is using “my” and “your” more although he still mixes them up at times and he still prefers to use names rather than pronouns.

Through the process of teaching him ”my” and “your”, I discovered that unknowingly I’ve acquired the habit of using “mommy” instead of “I” or “my” when talking to him. Slowly I’m undoing this and when I consciously change my sentences to use pronouns I can see that he too makes an effort to respond using pronouns!

Do You Know?

It’s almost a year since I stumbled into the blogosphere and I’ve gathered some really interesting/useful tips. Here’s a few very neat “how to”s I’ve yet to share with you.

How to:

• chill a drink in two minutes
• treat burns with ketchup
• treat ear infections (natural remedy)
• revive limp vegetables - this seems to apply more for salads. I’m not sure if it’ll make a difference to stir fries.
• teach a child how to add/subtract

So far I’ve only tried putting ketchup when I scalded my hand. Yes! It worked. Pretty amazing huh?

For other tips I’ve shared on my blog click on Parenting Tips category found on the left bar.

The Wonder of Aqua Doodle

I’ve lamented about Hubby-jr’s lack of interest in writing or even doodling (just about anything to do with having to manipulate a pen or pencil) last year in this previous post. Hence it didn’t quite help when his former class teacher told me at year (2007) end review that this year (at K1) the worksheets in class would increase significantly. She meant well and wanted us to see if we could encourage him in the writing department.

We tried during the year end break but without much success. It was always such a chore to him. So I didn’t push too hard. I didn’t want to kill the joy of writing altogether!

Thankfully since the start of the year, his present class teacher managed to persuade him to write! Hubby and I were so proud when we saw some of his work - he could write his name! (My poor son, Hubby and I picked a four syllable name for him. Yes, a LONG name for someone who doesn’t like to write.) And so we were content that he was writing albeit with much coaxing in school.

And then… one day a miracle happened.

I chanced upon this Aqua Doodle thingy at a toy store (Kiddy Palace) and bought it.

Lo and behold Hubby-jr took to it like fish to water. He just wrote and drew endlessly for a week! He practised his ABCs, 123s and even drew some stuff. It was amazing to watch. The fervour has since simmered down but occasionally he still writes and draws on it (voluntarily!)

Just what is it about the aqua doodle that could lure my son into writing/drawing mania??? Only the good Lord knows! But I’m mighty glad it did.

P/S: Aqua Doodle is a mat in which you can write with water and the writing disappears as soon as it dries. The set I bought comes with a sponge tip pen which you can fill with water.

Reading

We’ve been diligently visiting the library since end of last year. Here’s what we are currently reading.

Hubby….                          Me…

        

Hubby-jr…

       

He’s enjoying both these books by Andrea Zimmerman & David Clemesha. Incidentally I found this at youtube.

Last but definitely not least… Little Missy…

She picked this from the library during one of our regular visits and wouldn’t let it go. I borrowed it just to keep her happy and thought that she’d just throw it aside once we reached home (it’s really more of a book for pre-teens with lots of words and some illustrations). I was wrong. It’s one of her favourite books (for now) and “reads” it daily. She loves the illustrations, so much so that she’s wearing the book out (I think I may have to buy a new one for the library!) Go figure huh?

Here’s a snippet of how the “reading” usually goes…

Little Missy: Lying down… (giggles while pointing to the lady)
Me: (Smile) Yes, the woman is lying down under the bed.

Little Missy: Horse… where? (flips through the pages and finds the illustration she was looking for) There! (giggles)
Me: Oh, there they are. Horse (pointing to the horses). There are one, two, three horses.

Little Missy: Heetar! (guitar)
Me: Yes, the man is playing the guitar.
Little Missy: Daddy pay (play) heetar (guitar)
Me: Yes, daddy plays the guitar just like the man in this picture.

And this can go on over and over and over again for about half an hour! It can be tiring but oh it’s so adorable, don’t you think? 

So what’s your family reading?

P/S: Mommy Speech Therapy has these great tips when reading to a toddler.