A Glimpse of Me

Schenker,

This morning, you asked mommy: “Mommy, can you kiss me?” Then I kissed you on your cheek. You said: “Thank you.” What a nice way to begin my day.

In times like this, one can’t help but forget all the “cares” one has.

I have read from “Motivation for Moms” to: Never forget to tell your children you’re proud of them. Don’t assume that they already know how you feel.

It is important to build confidence in kids. It will help them go thru life. If a child doesn’t have self confidence, he’ll grow feeling very insecure, leading to bad behaviors and character. One shouldn’t teach over confidence too… coz if someone is over confident, nobody would like him anymore… or he will become too proud. Just strike the balance.

That’s why Mommy has to stay at home to take care of you… I wanna impart my own values to you, my son… (this is my choice, to be a full-time mom/wife) I wanna raise you according to what I have grown up with… and daddy’s too. Your grandparents have done very well in raising your daddy. Now that he is a father, he tries to be hands-on daddy. He really tries to spend time with you and your sister. He tries to give you both a shower before he leaves for work. He cannot do this all the time… but most of the time, he does it. When he comes home, he makes sure he plays with you and spend time with you. You have a great father. I also hope that you will take after him. Such a humble personality. Sometimes, people accuse him of things he doesn’t do or he’s innocent about… and yet, he chooses to be quiet. I confronted him about this a long time ago. He said, no point in defending your self. Just leave it all to God… coz at the end of the day, He will be the one to judge us. Such a good example to mommy. and to you too. That’s integrity. Sometimes, people forget about integrity (and honesty) and go on hurting, insulting other people, telling lies about other people and stuff like that, just to get sympathy from other people… or (from what I’ve learned about some cultures) to “save face.”

Woah, I’m being reflective again. But I do hope when you grow up and be able to read this one day, you will understand what Mommy means.

I love you boy, and I’m proud to be your mommy.

Hey Boy,Today, you enjoyed your playgroup so much. Mommy made sure you maximize your two-hour play/learn time there.I took you to the “Montessori Room” where you get to do some interesting things. You did the cylinder activity. I actually bought a book I found in pay less book shop (i love going there… i just miss every sale they have sad sad) called the Montessori Way. That was a long time ago. I read the book but it didn’t make sense to me. It was as if it was impossible to do. Well, I never tried it. But when we went to this playgroup, I discovered, they use the Montessori method a lot! So now I have an idea how to use the book I bought. It wasn’t a waste to buy it after all.The “cylinder” activity helps with the visual perception of dimension. There are 4 sets: one set varies in height and diameter, going from small and thin to tall and thick; another set progresses from small and thick to tall and thin; third set simply varies in diameter while remaining the same height and; fourth set varies in height but not in diameter.

I started you with one set last week. You did it so easily. Today, I did two sets for you and mixed up all the cylinders from the two sets… You also did without a hitch! Actually, this game helps with the strengthening of the muscle which are necessary for writing. At the same time it also helps to learn correct use of nomenclature to designate comparison: tall-short, for example. You already know the difference between big and small actually… but this one helps with learning thin-thinner-thinnest. This developes the concept of dimension sensorially, as well as intellectually.

There were other activities, but I guess one montessori activity is enough for the day, so we moved to the ppuzzle room. You also like puzzles. You enjoyed it very much!

Then, the water play! You love playing with the water and you were sooo excited to be able to play with other kids outside the big inflatable pool. Will take pix next time.

Also, we went to the play-dough room. You also love this activity. You enjoyed making shapes. (You actually recognized your shapes at age 1.5 years and could fit them into the form fitter at the same time. I remember that time when you were 1 1/2 years, you couldn’t pronounce the triangle very well so you pronounced it tangi-gle. hehehe). We also made some pretend food, like spaghetti. You were pretending to feed mommy and yourself with spaghetti dough (I wished it wasn’t a pretend eating at all!).

Then we had the singing and the story time. And today, the story was about “Pooh bear”. That was cool.

Then daddy and Samantha came at 11:30 to pick us up. Time was sooo short! I wished we could do that every day. But since it’s only a play group, we could only do it once a week.

Overall, you had fun today. Next time I’ll pack the camera a night before we go there. I always forget to take it with us.

Maybe you remind Mommy. Okay?

Dear Schenker boy,Mommy has bought you a paint stand already. I bought it from Ikea (99rm only). It’s actually a white board and at the back is a black board. So you can write there, too. Have to put it outside so when you paint, you won’t be tempted in doing the painting on the wall. I remember you started scribbling at age 12 months and at 16 months you started scribbling on the wall in our apartment in Arcadia… not just on the wall actually… you scribbled on the sofa, which was hard coz our sofa only had cloth covers. But I’m glad the moment we moved to this house, you have outgrown scribbling on the walls already. Otherwise, it’s hard becuase it’s not our own house.
You like painting. I think most children do.This morning, Achacha (grandfather in Malayalam) called the house to speak to daddy. But nowadays, you’re our telephone operator and you “screen” the callers before you give the phone to us. You know your phone manners already. You said “hello” then “hi, good morning” clearly. Achacha was very happy coz he could talk to his grandson on the phone and had a real conversation… not just babbling… or one-word sentences like you used to do when you were one year old… Anyway, I’m glad how your language is developing well. But you’re very funny. When you talk to Samantha, you talk like her also… like ah-ah-ah… and same goes to other younger kids. When you talk to them, you actually stoop down to their level. Hahahaha! Very funny. But when you talk to older peole, you can actually speak clearly.

Nowadays, you’re trying to count from 1-20 already. Although you always forget the “20″ word… but you keep trying. You started counting from 1 to 10 when you were 18 months old… and only now you’re trying to count from 1-20… Cool!

Also, I never taught you how to put your own shirts and shorts. But you could actually put them on yourself. You started with shorts (easier than shirts) when you were 2.5 years old… and you tried putting on big shirt (daddy’s or mommy’s one) for yourself also. But last week, I asked you to put on your shirt, you actually did! Hmmm… Clever lah you. This is just one of the life skills that a child learns along the way… Can actually teach at a younger age, but i never did.

Anyways… like what Auntie Lalaine said about her being an official stage mom… I think I am one too. Actually, it’s normal for moms to show off the achievement of their kids. Exaggerating about your kid’s development is another story.
We’re going to your playgroup tomorrow. I’m sure both of us are going to have fun again.

Love you,
Mommy

dear schenker,tonight we went to see a musical production called “Hey Joe” at the church, FGA in Old Klang.
it’s about the Story of Jonah from the Bible. when we learned about this musical thingy in church, we were excited to take you coz one of your favorite stories in the Bible is the story of jonah (the other one is the ark of noah).

you enjoyed the show so much. after the show, you asked daddy: daddy, can i go say hi to jonah? so we went on stage to talk to the guy who acted as jonah. it happened that the actor was your daddy’s friend’s son.

this production is organized by sri sempurna school, for fund raising for their new building in cheras. actually, daddy and mommy are already considering to send you to this school when you go to primary school. so it was cool to see all those talented kids acting on-stage.you also saw the king and wanna have a photo of him. you looked at him in awe in fact. i think maybe, you thought he was a real king. hehehe.
for now, have to go to sleep coz it’s already 3:04am.

love you,
mommy

my boy,tonight mommy took you and samantha to janke’s and joshua’s house. they live nearby our house… a few blocks away. i put both of you in one stroller and you and samantha enjoyed it!daddy came to pick us up… and when we were about to leave.. you told mommy you wanna stay on. hmmm… and you were like.. okay mommy and daddy.. bye-bye (with flying kisses)… and you looked like you were rushing us to go home!

you’re showing a bit of independence already ha? i’m glad coz in a way… you’re not having that separation anxiety anymore (i hope). but i actually felt something… i couldn’t describe what and how… maybe this is how mothers feel when their child leaves her to pursue some other things. i felt like you’re starting to soar with your own wings! please take it slowly okay? hehehe.
anywayss… i think it’s some kind of a milestone for you coz you never wanted mommy and daddy to leave you with some other people.

you’re growing up fast indeed.