[Learning] Vee Turns 2 Years 9 Months Old

Note to new readers: This article is part of Vee’s developmental milestones update series. It summarises my parenting approach, Vee’s progress, challenges we face and how we overcome them.

Inspiration this month:

Being a mother of 2 means I need to master an entirely new level of multi-tasking. Imagine this: nursing a newborn, urging a toddler to eat faster and gobbling down my food all at the SAME time.

Now that baby Jae has arrived, Vee’s officially promoted to be an older brother. I’ve stretched his growth updates from monthly to bi-monthly to tri-monthly. Ha… time’s very limited as I learn to juggle between the needs of 2 young boys. Kudos to mums who have even more children!

Anyway, the boy turned 2 years 9 months old (33 months) and here’s his progess update:

Learning & Communication

Through the final trimester of pregnancy, I managed to homeschool Vee using The Shichida Method almost every week day. We’d a break for the first 2+ weeks when baby Jae arrived, and just resumed guided activities again. He certainly misses his home lessons!

• Senses: Perhaps with the senses play that we’ve been practising, Vee has super-sharp senses. A few days ago, we were playing in the living room. Then he suddenly exclaimed, “Mummy, your handphone is ringing!” My phone rarely rings and it was in the bedroom upstairs. And I seriously couldn’t hear it at all. When I checked, it indeed had a missed call and 2 SMSes. Wow!
• Memory: We started learning 三字经 (Three Character Classic) through CDs and homemade flashcards. He’s very good at reciting them with minimal effort. In contrast, I need to practise MUCH harder to recall the verses. The power of learning using the right brain! Bit by bit, hopefully we can cover the entire classic through next year. This is a fantastic way to strengthen his audio memory, widen his Chinese vocabulary and instil good moral values.

• Reading: Recently, he has shown great enthusiasm in reading Chinese books aloud by himself. I’m putting a lot of emphasis on his Chinese language because we’d be enrolling him in a Chinese primary school. And I always think that Chinese is a beautiful yet very difficult language to master.
• Favourite books:

1. My First Things That Go Board Book* by DK Publishing: I bought several books from this My First series when Vee was about 1+ years old. This book on transport vehicles is his all-time favourite. From this book, I also learnt about vehicles such as digger, front loader and tractor with bale loader. I’m not a vehicle person at all, yet this little knowledge helps me to connect with Vee when he goes all EXCITED seeing them on the road. Other books from the series that we love:
2. My First Animal Board Book*: I like that this book introduces a wide number of interesting animals, such as the boa constrictor and fire salamander.
3. My First Word Board Book*: This book covers a big array of items in and out of the house. Ideal for expanding vocabulary.
4. My First Phonics Board Book*: I didn’t learn phonics as a child, so I can’t teach Vee phonics. This book covers many of the common sounds, so we learn together by reading it.

Montessori: For his first 3 years, we’ve been focusing more on right brain education. From age 3 to 6 years, it’s time to start bridging the right and left brain. This means besides “input” to the right brain, we’d also cover more logical reasoning and explanation. Vee started asking “Why” all the time since several months back, so it’s a sign that his left brain is kicking in.

After some exploration, I’d be implementing more Montessori activities into our home learning. To kick this off, I’ve enrolled in a 12-month online Monterssori Teacher Training Program offered by Karen Tyler, beginning on 1 December 2011. You’re welcome to join me and Shen-Li (of Figur8) if you’re interested. 🙂

Motor Skills

• After a few weeks of regular practice on his balance bike, he can move very fast on it, maneuvering in circles and sudden swerves.
• These few months, he finally could pull his underwear up by himself. So he doesn’t need my help to go to the potty. Just in time since I’m busier with baby Jae now. He managed to put on his pyjamas pants by himself too, but still needs more practice.

Behaviour & Social Skills

• With baby Jae’s arrival, I’ve less dedicated time for Vee. In the early days, he saw his baby brother scream, so he followed suit. He behaved in a very unusual manner during that first week when I rested a lot. Now that I’ve more time for him, he’s more his usual self.
• To ensure he continues to feel loved (and therefore behave well), I give him my full attention once baby Jae is asleep. We read, sing, play, hug and he totally enjoys these special 1-to-1 moments.

Diet & Feeding

• Vee used to be very easy during meal-times. Now, if I’ve to breastfeed Jae when he’s eating, he’d be very difficult and wait for me to feed him after I’m done nursing. I wish this is only a passing phase!

Potty Training

• Several months back, he’d a week of staying dry through naps and nights. Then he completely regressed. Nowadays, he wakes up wetter than in the past! More patience needed here…

Sleep

• He’s finally used to Daddy putting him to bed and sleeping beside him through the night. Miraculously, Granny managed to put him to bed on the night I delivered Jae, even though it was 1a.m. when he finally zonked out.
• I’m also teaching him to stay calm (and not cry) if he doesn’t see me when he wakes up. Many times, I’ve to breastfeed baby Jae in the next room.

It’s been a steep learning curve being a Mummy of 2. Thankfully, Jae has been a very angelic baby who already sleeps up to 4 hours in a stretch at night! Hope I’d be able to manage well when the confinement lady leaves in 2 weeks. Catch up again!

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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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