Vee Turns 20 Months Old

Inspiration this month: I hope to let Vee learn from life’s experiences, beyond what books can teach.

Here goes Vee’s progress…

Learning & Communication

• Vee had his first overseas vacation to Perth, and we stayed in a working farm for 1 night. The trip certainly broadened his exposure to geography, nature and animals. Since returning, he has been blabbering about roo-roos (kangaroos), chook-chooks (chickens), trains and buses. Before having Vee, I used to think that bringing young children overseas is a waste of money since they won’t remember the trip years down the road. Now, I think it’s a great opportunity to bring his home learning to life — reading about a kangaroo is entirely different from feeding a REAL kangaroo. And Perth is a fantastic destination for children. Our trip was mostly about nature, hardly any shopping.
• With 2 trips during the past month, we had no Shichida Method‘s classes for 4 weeks! I almost didn’t make any new flashcards and now he gets super-distracted during flashcard sessions at home. In contrast, he was a PERFECT student during class last week. He really missed his sinsei (teacher), lessons and friends. This reinforces my belief that weekly classes are important in getting our learning momentum going.
• He still loves linking memory and we’re at our 4th set, practising with 6 cards each time. (Each set typically consists of 72 cards.) If it’s a familiar picture, he usually gets the position correct.
• While waiting for our return flight at Perth airport, Vee was captivated by this board book, Dear Zoo by Rod Campbell*. I bought it with our remaining small change. Before this book, Vee has NEVER seen the picture of a camel and I’ve not taught him the word. On our second reading, he actually said “mer-mer” when I paused at the camel’s picture! This little boy is full of surprises…

Motor

• Occasionally, he stands in an inverted “V”, with his head on the floor and attempts to roll over. Gosh… I always try to pull him back in case he makes “forward rolls” a favourite past-time.
• Throughout the week, we’d do a mixture of drawing and water play. Yesterday, instead of water, I gave him some uncooked pastas and red beans to practise his scooping and pouring.
• I’m 90% sure he’s right-handed, as he prefers using his right hand for activities such as threading.

Behaviour & Social Skills

• During Perth, he suddenly started shouting “Ahh!!!” whenever his request isn’t granted. This certainly gets on my nerves. Sometimes, he can go “Ah! Ah! Ahhh!!!!!” Occasionally, he’d even try to hit us! It’s his way of expressing discontentment, which seems absolutely RUDE. To counter this, I tell him to “calm down”, “Shh!”, “be gentle” or say “Please” instead. Lots of patience is needed in dealing with toddlers.

Diet & Feeding

• I tried rubbing a little tofu (soya beancurd) onto his arm and there was no redness. Soon, I’d feed him some and pray that his soy allergy is gone. Egg white is another food he needs to try again too. Eczema, please go away!

Potty Training

• Using prefolds or fitted cloth diapers without any stay-dry layer helps him feel wet in the day. Yet, he can ignore the wetness at times and I need to make him change after every pee.

Sleep

• Technically, he’s sleeping through the night without waking up for milk. However, during the night, he’d always squeeze over to sleep over my chest and disrupt my beauty sleep. Grr… I must find a way to glue his head onto his pillow!

And it’s unbelievable this boy is TWENTY months old and turning TWO in 4 months!

P.S. View more developmental milestones (from 8 months old onwards).

P.P.S. Our latest homeschooling updates are posted at MummysHomeschool.com HERE,

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