Setting the table

Theo learns to set the table to the number of people having a meal. I do it first and then he asked to do it himself every dinner. We start with
spoons. That night we had Aunty Sien Sien join us for dinner.

So Theo laid 4 spoons on the right side of the placemat. One for daddy, one for mummy, one for Aunty Sien Sien, one for Aunty May, our helper, and a baby spoon for Theo on his highchair. Altogether there were 5 spoons.

Learning Math was fun this way. Ever the helpful boy, his servanthood spirit was evident.

Last night however, he took 2 adult spoons, but daddy was in U.S so I had to ask him to put one back.

Budding scientists?

Zach & Theo are childhood friends, I mean friends since they were both babies. :) I hope they become good friends for a long long time. Zach & Theo also had lots in common, both a cautionary kids, likes playing with older kids, likes to play with girls (so early???). Zach is a gentle boy, much like Theo. They both like to put things back in an orderly fashion and keep things very neat. Very well-behaved and lots of fun for Theo to hang out with. Don't they look like they're seriously having fun?

(sidenote: Unlike in the U.S where they have science exploration meant for kids, the Singapore Science centre is not really tots-friendly, we think its the sights & sounds they take in, with lots of explanations from parents. I try to expose him to more hands-on stuff and the gears (above) is one of the few 'scientific' stuff kids can touch.)




Here's Theo at 11months old and mummy at Pala Alto Junior Museum. Their tots-friendly structure means kids can really touch and manipulate all on their own! It is not a museum at all, it even has a small outdoor enclosure to see some small animals!

Bowling

We've played bowling umpteen times at home (bowling ball and painted toilet rolls as 'pins'), but here comes an opportunity for the real bowling and Theo was thrilled.

He also enjoyed watching how the pins got knocked down. I was told boys like to know how things worked.

colouring with both hands

Something we do to keep occupied, and training both right and left brains. Look at the riot of colours he created. Theo does it with dexterity with both hands. :) I usually hang up his works, but now Theo does it on his own.

Thanksgiving in Oct

Although thanksgiving day is hardly celebrated in our country, we felt that it is a good tradition for our family to have. Making it an event is hardly an excuse for not giving thanks the rest of the year, but a way we can re-focus as a family and not take each other for granted (ironically, its the people we are closest to that we most likely do!)

This year is our first and I wanted to include everyone under the roof. So that's inclusive of our helper.

I read aloud to Theo and sang Psalm 118:1 from Steve Green album - Hide 'em in your heart. We play this almost everyday cuz Bible verses are best remembered this way with kids. We start with memory and then do object lessons for comprehension.

Then I printed out leaves with a verse on thanksgiving. Then we had everyone colour the leaf and we went around asking each one to:

1) name something they want to thank God for
2) to name a person in the family they thank

Theo moved us by saying "I thank God for wisdom" and I thank papa for strength and helper for strength. I thank God for Theo who is generally an obedient child and husband who take time to cook western food for the family (check over at: I also thank Him for being involved with the kids daily. David thank God for my support so he can finish and graduate in his Masters in ministerial studies.

Our helper thank God for healing her backache and allergy and thank God for understanding employers (hee hee). We thanked her for her hardwork and patience. (hint: its so good for employer-maid relationship and it cost us nothing!)

I then print out thanksgiving points and have them stuck to the leaf. Then we stick a cork coaster beneath and tada! we made a thanksgiving coaster out of it. It serves as a reminder who and what we are thankful for.

by the way, did I mention, I love art the way Kid's do it. Not something that was a teacher's work but made to look like a kid's. ;) Here's Theo's creation.
















We played sequencing with symbols associate with thanksgiving.