All by Myself

The absence of posts is indicative of how truly crazy life has been.
Summary of my September/October:

• Nico gets sick 1
• Yaya 1 Leaves
• Nico gets sick 2
• Hire Yaya 2
• Pack up and move house
• Fire Yaya 2
• Nico gets sick 3
• Wait for Yaya 3 to come (hasn't happened yet - so Mommy is now YayaMommy).

Oh yes. What a month this is turning out to be!

A lesson in detachment

Some months ago, I posted that Nico's yaya had asked to leave. I actually asked her to stay until I found someone to replace her, to which she agreed. Well - months later, I have finally hired a replacement (although a little too young for my preference, we are giving her a try) but have asked the yaya to stay until the end of the month to help "teach" the replacement.

Well, this morning, yaya asked if she could leave this weekend - one week early - because she had found a new job. I guess I shouldn't be surprised at the request, but I guess the overly-trusting me expected more in terms of loyalty. Just goes to show that no matter how good a yaya is, in some way, she is really still an outsider and loyalties and promises will only go so far.

A lesson in detachment.

Moving on.

Kumon Worksheets

I must credit some of the ideas of my homemade worksheets to the fabulous Kumon worksheets/workbooks. They make coloring, writing and cutting/pasting a lot more fun for Nico! (I'm still doing the cutting, btw). He also really loves the books of Mazes (pics for another time). What we haven't quite made any traction on yet though are the books on Folding Paper.

Let's Color!

Let's Sticker and Paste!

Homemade worksheets - Part 2

As a follow up to my previous post, here are some of the other worksheets I prepared and had Nico do while I am at work (or even when I am home).

Tracing shapes

Identifying (and pasting) farm animals!

Tracing letters

Identifying (and pasting) land, air and sea vehicles!

Homemade worksheets - Part1

I've been trying to get Nico to practice his pencil skills more, but he usually gives the pencil/crayons about 1 minute of attention before proceeding to do other things. 

At last, I found a way to get him to enjoy using the pencil (and asking for more)! And it tests my skills in drawing things on the spot, depending on what he wants to see!

Help the bees land on the flowers!

Decided to use some color this time to make it more appealing

He can read the instructions too!

On bumps and bruises

Over a chat with my brother this morning, I discovered that he had fallen asleep while supposedly looking after his 10 month old baby early this morning - resulting in the baby's rolling off the bed landing on the floor with a loud thud. Of course he was feeling like a really horrible parent, which is a feeling all too familiar for me, from the first time my son fell off the bed too.

Note that I said - first time.

My son has fallen off the bed quite a number of times. Maybe thrice when he was a year old, and about the same number of times in the last year, at two years old. Eventually even putting pillows or having two sleeping adults beside him didn't work. His sleepy body would somehow find its way to the parts of the bed with a little vacant space, and roll off and land with a loud thud on the floor. No major accidents ever came from his falling off the bed, and after a minute of consoling, everyone is back in bed and dreamland. Doesn't make it any more pleasant an experience though.

A lot of people tell me that having a son means expecting a LOT more bumps and bruises in the future, and I can already foresee that. Nico runs like a bullet - at times with his eyes closed, and other times moving forward while his head is turned looking behind to see if anyone is chasing him. He's ran into walls, table corners and doors, fallen on grass and on the pavement. He's had a huge wound smack across his nose, and bumps growing on bumps (really! it was U-G-L-Y. I felt like he had hydrocephalus!).

But well, I'd better get used to this because this bullet of mine is not slowing down.

Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother

I've got shelves full of books that I have started and never finished, for all sorts of reasons. Been too busy, got too bored, or just plainly forgot I had bought them.

And so my husband was quite surprised to hear that I had bought this book - Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother - and actually finished it within days of buying it, which is probably a testimony of what an interesting read it is. I just heard about it from a friend, not knowing that it apparently raised so much controversy (if you would call it that) because of the author (Amy Chua)'s extreme parenting style.

I don't intend this post to be a review or a spoiler. I just wanted to say that I (yay!) finished the book, and enjoyed it! It was an easy read and I, thought, a good one at that! While I may not subscribe to this particular parenting style, it was certainly entertaining and insightful.

Now back to my shelf to attempt to finish another book....