Tuesday, August 25, 2009
P at 5, starts his 2nd (or 3rd) Language class
The father finally is taking his son's language lessons seriously. After he turned five, DH has been regularly teaching him language. I'm not really sure if he knows what he's doing but I am just as happy as the kid. Finally. Hopefully, Teacher Dad will not burn out soon. ;)
Thursday, August 20, 2009
P turns Five!
Yesterday has been a great day! It was a bit busy for me but it turned out fine.
After three years of planning, I was finally able to bake my son his birthday cake. A first for me, I'm afraid. We've always bought cake from stores before and just come to think of it, he has always had a cake on his birthday. Small maybe but still a cake.
I started around 10 AM after my morning routine. I made two batch coz the portions were not that enough. After two hours, a total of 6 C of flour, 2 C of mayo, 3 C of sugar, 12 T of cocoa and a number of sifting, the mixture did get into the oven and out to start cooling while we had our lunch. Having it cooled a bit, I went back to it to make the fudge and finish up the irregular turn out of the cake. Ha! It sure was time consuming for a first timer like me. I still had to run to the market to get some peppers for the spaghetti. It was about 4 when the grandparents arrived with their gift. ;)
Since not everything is still settled, we all went out for some playtime for the birthday boy and while I run for additional candles and peppers and other stuff needed. SOS from my bro who took care of the finishing touches for the cake which was wanting some colors save for the brown chocolate fudge covering it.
Things to properly note down on DIY cake: NIPS, or MnMs, mallows, sprinklers (which I have to go to a special party store and not just at the only mart in town!), small stick'o, pretzels, hmm...it should look better next time. ;)
Some more notes on the things I learned:
a. I may someday consider using the confectionaire's sugar on the frosting or even fudge. I did buy it and it's rotting in my cupboard. The very conscientous of sugar for the teeth really gets in the way of my baking. Tsk, tsk. I keep on thinking of the very fine confectsugars that is just perfect to melt in our mouth and at the same time melt our teeth! There should be a balance somewhere.
b. Take care of the candles way in advance. This is a second for me coz I do remember one of my friends who had the same problem last time. I almost had the same, except that mine was easier solved. I didn't have to look for a very special candle. A stick was enough except that I needed one more. My reuse-reduce-and-recycle-thing kicked in and what I did was just add one more from the last set that we had last year. Ah! I did buy two this time for next year. Hmm..kidded the clerk about it but I was actually dead serious. LOL..
And now, off to make our thak you cards for our guests yesterday. My son sure had a great birthday thanks to them.
After three years of planning, I was finally able to bake my son his birthday cake. A first for me, I'm afraid. We've always bought cake from stores before and just come to think of it, he has always had a cake on his birthday. Small maybe but still a cake.
I started around 10 AM after my morning routine. I made two batch coz the portions were not that enough. After two hours, a total of 6 C of flour, 2 C of mayo, 3 C of sugar, 12 T of cocoa and a number of sifting, the mixture did get into the oven and out to start cooling while we had our lunch. Having it cooled a bit, I went back to it to make the fudge and finish up the irregular turn out of the cake. Ha! It sure was time consuming for a first timer like me. I still had to run to the market to get some peppers for the spaghetti. It was about 4 when the grandparents arrived with their gift. ;)
Since not everything is still settled, we all went out for some playtime for the birthday boy and while I run for additional candles and peppers and other stuff needed. SOS from my bro who took care of the finishing touches for the cake which was wanting some colors save for the brown chocolate fudge covering it.
Things to properly note down on DIY cake: NIPS, or MnMs, mallows, sprinklers (which I have to go to a special party store and not just at the only mart in town!), small stick'o, pretzels, hmm...it should look better next time. ;)
Some more notes on the things I learned:
a. I may someday consider using the confectionaire's sugar on the frosting or even fudge. I did buy it and it's rotting in my cupboard. The very conscientous of sugar for the teeth really gets in the way of my baking. Tsk, tsk. I keep on thinking of the very fine confectsugars that is just perfect to melt in our mouth and at the same time melt our teeth! There should be a balance somewhere.
b. Take care of the candles way in advance. This is a second for me coz I do remember one of my friends who had the same problem last time. I almost had the same, except that mine was easier solved. I didn't have to look for a very special candle. A stick was enough except that I needed one more. My reuse-reduce-and-recycle-thing kicked in and what I did was just add one more from the last set that we had last year. Ah! I did buy two this time for next year. Hmm..kidded the clerk about it but I was actually dead serious. LOL..
And now, off to make our thak you cards for our guests yesterday. My son sure had a great birthday thanks to them.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Fine Motor Skills
August 17th
As we were about to go out to buy our groceries today, P had the idea of doing origami. Since I am preoccupied in preparing to go out, I told him that he has to do this by himself this time without calling me for help. He said yes and I was gladly surprised. He chose to do a simple whale with 2 stars for difficulty (with 5 being the most difficult). The folds that he had to do were really simple and he finally had the confidence of doing it all by himself save for the last part of the tail which called for a "hood fold". He still had to ask me about it but for the most part he figured it out on his own. His folding quality was not so bad at all. He was able to fold neatly. My heart was silently rejoicing to see that his fingers are finally catching up in doing small tasks such as origami. I am looking forward to the day when he'll try to do higher difficulty level of origami. (Was he challenged with Fiona's confidence in trying it on her own?Just a thought.)
Another milestone today for his fine motor skills development is the use of chopsticks. Except for his Father who's almost not that familiar in using forks (oops! he must not see this!LOL), we generally use spoon and fork for eating. I do prefer using chopsticks with spaghetti, kimchi and some food sometimes but I do still use fork most of the time. DS also uses fork most of the time but when he sees everyone using chopsticks, he is encourage to use one too. We occasionally have "chopsticks days" wherein for the first part of the meal, he'll try to use it. Before the meal ends, he would switch to fork saying that his "hands" are tired. We do understand that of course.
Today turned out to be another chopstick night. I noticed that he's more confident in holding the sticks and less food are falling. He's more adept at using the chopsticks and he was able to eat the rest of the meal withour switching back to fork. But of course, the food was a good one to pick up like the tofu and anchovies. My next cue to watch out for is when he will be able to eat noodle with it. He already tried before but not quite successfully yet so I may have to see next time again.
As we were about to go out to buy our groceries today, P had the idea of doing origami. Since I am preoccupied in preparing to go out, I told him that he has to do this by himself this time without calling me for help. He said yes and I was gladly surprised. He chose to do a simple whale with 2 stars for difficulty (with 5 being the most difficult). The folds that he had to do were really simple and he finally had the confidence of doing it all by himself save for the last part of the tail which called for a "hood fold". He still had to ask me about it but for the most part he figured it out on his own. His folding quality was not so bad at all. He was able to fold neatly. My heart was silently rejoicing to see that his fingers are finally catching up in doing small tasks such as origami. I am looking forward to the day when he'll try to do higher difficulty level of origami. (Was he challenged with Fiona's confidence in trying it on her own?Just a thought.)
Another milestone today for his fine motor skills development is the use of chopsticks. Except for his Father who's almost not that familiar in using forks (oops! he must not see this!LOL), we generally use spoon and fork for eating. I do prefer using chopsticks with spaghetti, kimchi and some food sometimes but I do still use fork most of the time. DS also uses fork most of the time but when he sees everyone using chopsticks, he is encourage to use one too. We occasionally have "chopsticks days" wherein for the first part of the meal, he'll try to use it. Before the meal ends, he would switch to fork saying that his "hands" are tired. We do understand that of course.
Today turned out to be another chopstick night. I noticed that he's more confident in holding the sticks and less food are falling. He's more adept at using the chopsticks and he was able to eat the rest of the meal withour switching back to fork. But of course, the food was a good one to pick up like the tofu and anchovies. My next cue to watch out for is when he will be able to eat noodle with it. He already tried before but not quite successfully yet so I may have to see next time again.
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Reading Journey: Archie's Comics
DS had stumbled into the comics scene. He found it very interesting but I have yet to reread these books again. He's so into it nowadays and would constantly be "caught" reading this.
OOps! Books read last Friday at the library. Big book about So Duck who cannot Quack (titled "Quack"), A Pal for Pat (Fischer-price phonics book), and the Ant and the Grasshopper (this one has the sad ending where Ant refuses Grasshopper begging for food). I personally like my own version where the ant shares but still teaches the lesson of saving to the grasshopper.
He also looked for the Mack the Cat book today which I almost forgot where I had kept. Ah! There are still much more to reread at home.
:( So this one also goes for me.
OOps! Books read last Friday at the library. Big book about So Duck who cannot Quack (titled "Quack"), A Pal for Pat (Fischer-price phonics book), and the Ant and the Grasshopper (this one has the sad ending where Ant refuses Grasshopper begging for food). I personally like my own version where the ant shares but still teaches the lesson of saving to the grasshopper.
He also looked for the Mack the Cat book today which I almost forgot where I had kept. Ah! There are still much more to reread at home.
:( So this one also goes for me.
Saturday, August 8, 2009
Intro to Lapbook this July
Here's a quick post on our activities this later part of July.
We did the science week from sometime around July 24th to 31st. The focus study is the basics of human body. The inspiration was taken from one of the science curriculum I was fiddling with these days and the free lapbook site I fortunately discovered. Some of these lapbooks might be a little daunting at first but as we did part by part, our first foray into lapbooks is quite promising.
Photos of our output are to follow. It must be noted that I tried to let the kid get into the cutting and gluing in the process. During the first ones, he was ok with it. But he still needs more confidence to solely do the things himself. Coloringwise, he is able to. Using the scissors and longer time squeezing out the glue stick might still be tricky. I am considering on getting a new pair of scissors for him, in case that what he's using is not as sharp as it should be anymore. Another one is the glue stick that I chose. I might have to get the "paste" kind of glue--the ca[ and twist thing which is generally just good for papers. Up on my list now.
As for the content of the things that we have covered, I do think that he doesn't only retain the facts and figures (?) but the concepts as well. At least he now knows more about the importance of our bones, muscles, heart and brain. ;)
After the science week series, I'm moving into language and literacy again. A week off and resume next week. Not that we didn't do any learning this week, mind you.
We happened to find a praying mantis in the "kulitis" plant growing in the corner lot. Seeing it's potential science lesson, we took it home. Googled it up and found (basically Asia, South America and only some part of Australia; and it is a carnivore. It only eats other insects even like grasshoppers.
We also took short walks, library visit and playground time for his motor skills.;) Since Lola Mama has been out of the hospital and currently recuperating from her foot surgery, we had our chance of visiting her more often these days. We would sometimes take a walk going to or fro her place to pick some ilang-ilang flowers on the way and do a pretend adventure in our slightly-forested street.
Note to Mom today was to put on some neat shoes and not open toed sandals. Mine is not really very comfy to walk with.
We also had a chance to have his friend over for a day. They played and did acitivities together last Friday. Starting with some mini-letter books, (for the friend to catch up phonics), origami, painting, and a few minutes viewing of Hi-5 and Backyardigans at home. Then off to the city library where we managed to read three books and the playground for their ultimate activity of the day. Did I mention the ice cream that they each got after a day's work and play?
Hopefully, we can put this thing on again next week. It's time to plan for another session!
We did the science week from sometime around July 24th to 31st. The focus study is the basics of human body. The inspiration was taken from one of the science curriculum I was fiddling with these days and the free lapbook site I fortunately discovered. Some of these lapbooks might be a little daunting at first but as we did part by part, our first foray into lapbooks is quite promising.
Photos of our output are to follow. It must be noted that I tried to let the kid get into the cutting and gluing in the process. During the first ones, he was ok with it. But he still needs more confidence to solely do the things himself. Coloringwise, he is able to. Using the scissors and longer time squeezing out the glue stick might still be tricky. I am considering on getting a new pair of scissors for him, in case that what he's using is not as sharp as it should be anymore. Another one is the glue stick that I chose. I might have to get the "paste" kind of glue--the ca[ and twist thing which is generally just good for papers. Up on my list now.
As for the content of the things that we have covered, I do think that he doesn't only retain the facts and figures (?) but the concepts as well. At least he now knows more about the importance of our bones, muscles, heart and brain. ;)
After the science week series, I'm moving into language and literacy again. A week off and resume next week. Not that we didn't do any learning this week, mind you.
We happened to find a praying mantis in the "kulitis" plant growing in the corner lot. Seeing it's potential science lesson, we took it home. Googled it up and found (basically Asia, South America and only some part of Australia; and it is a carnivore. It only eats other insects even like grasshoppers.
We also took short walks, library visit and playground time for his motor skills.;) Since Lola Mama has been out of the hospital and currently recuperating from her foot surgery, we had our chance of visiting her more often these days. We would sometimes take a walk going to or fro her place to pick some ilang-ilang flowers on the way and do a pretend adventure in our slightly-forested street.
Note to Mom today was to put on some neat shoes and not open toed sandals. Mine is not really very comfy to walk with.
We also had a chance to have his friend over for a day. They played and did acitivities together last Friday. Starting with some mini-letter books, (for the friend to catch up phonics), origami, painting, and a few minutes viewing of Hi-5 and Backyardigans at home. Then off to the city library where we managed to read three books and the playground for their ultimate activity of the day. Did I mention the ice cream that they each got after a day's work and play?
Hopefully, we can put this thing on again next week. It's time to plan for another session!
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