KK Concert 2008

Last Saturday, Kimi performed in his school's concert despite having only practised for 3 weeks! His teacher said that he learnt very fast and could remember all the steps and can 'shake' very well. So, since 1 of the boys is not attending, we decided to buy over his costume and let Kimi have a go! Think I'm more excited than he was! Imagine, my baby, going on stage, wow! What a milestone!

Anyway, the whole family wanted to give Kimi support and for a short 'shake' on stage, 7 of us went. We cheered, laughed and weeped. Well, I certainly did. Always never been able to control my emotions ... I saw my mum teared a little too, with joy I guess.

When Kimi went on stage, he started 'dancing' even before the music came on and everyone laughed and cooed. His class performed 2 segments, Hokey Pokey and Macarena. And Kimi practically made the stage his. How? Some parts he will follow, most parts he ran around, forward, backward, etc! It was so funny! I don't know how but he seemed to be able to catch the steps and tempo after each 'stray'.

Then when everyone went off stage, he still wriggled a little on stage alone before running off in his tip-toe fashion, palms outreach to his classmates, screaming happily and MUST be the first to walk down the stairs, pushing almost everyone in his path off! *faint!* What happened to being chivalrous and gracious and letting the girls go first? Down the drain, I guess.

The whole gang, bright and early
What allowed us in

The theme : Everyone Has Music Inside - very true..

A cute Pre-Nursery class performing Mexican Hats Dance

Kimi on stage doing the Hokey Pokey

Look Kimi is the youngest that day - his classmate, Sherlyn is almost a year older!

Bending up and down before running away

and running back to have a go at rolling his hands to the Macarena

The K2 class doing the Para Para

Teacher Nitha was very nice to stay with Kimi during the finale so he won't run away! They just know him too well. Haha!

Grumpy shot with Papa cos it was way past nap time!

Artfully Busy Week ...

It's been a busy but rewarding week for us. First, we went to watch "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" by Eric Carle, followed by Disney Live, 3 Classic Tales and then a workshop at the National Museum. All in the same week!

I was so impressed and proud of Kimi who sat through both shows! Amazing right? Well, at least for me cos Kimi is such an active, active child.

I think he enjoyed the Caterpillar show best cos he still (till now) mentions the caterpillar! After the show, I did not want to miss the opportunity, so when we reached home, I quickly read the story to Kimi again and we 'revised' our learning of the lifecyle of the butterfly with the toy set. Kimi surprised us by imitating the movement of the caterpillar by 'leopard-crawling' on the floor! haha! It was so cute!

Well, he was so keen on being a caterpillar that he repeated it all week! Guess we were lucky too cos in school, it was also the Caterpillar theme and they also read Eric Carle's story and did crafts related to butterflies and caterpillar. What excellent timing!

Although the Disney show featured 3 princess tales, Kimi was really rooting for Mickey and everytime they came out or the 3 little rats appeared, he would clap and scream, "wow"! I was so happy he sat through this 1.5 hours!

Lastly, we went to the Museum and this week's theme was on food. It covered foods from the past and present. There was a singing session, followed by image play of eating in a restaurant with play-food and then doing up a craft of the hawker baskets of the old. Then we were given a complimentary visit to the Food Gallery.

Didn't feel this was exactly a fabulous workshop but well, it kept him occupied for Sunday and Kimi get to go on a date with his favourite little friend, Estelle!

Kimi so captured with the things behind this wall

My fave shot - a nice smiley one! Precious!
Kimi is so like me - we love all things Xmas!

Before the workshop started, there were free play and of cos, Kimi would head for the puzzles!

Then of cos boy's play things - he loves fiddling with these!

Then it was singing time

Image Play - Eating at a restaurant and Kimi grabs his favourite food - corn!

The Mobile Satay Man of the old. Kimi helping to 'cook' the food.

Kimi handling over his craft for the adding the final touch of a stick so that he can carry on his shoulders like how the mobile hawkers used to.

Here's my little Satay man!

A visit to the Food Gallery. Kimi looking on at another boy pounding the mortar

These stations are his favourite. You place the thing near your nose and pull the key and you get a whiff of what's in the glass containers. There are cinnamon, cardamon, coconut, etc to try out!

Lovely isn't it? All the cake moulds of the past!

I love this pix even though it is overexposed cos Kimi is smiling so sweetly!

Can you spot Kimi's craft?

The 2 kiddos caught on the large video wall - nice!

Glimpses ...

This is the 2nd week that I am receiving the school's newsletter and it never fails to warm my heart and bring a smile to me.

It is really so nice to have glimpses of what your child does in school. Every week, I look forward to these newsletters that were put together by Kimi's teacher. It is just wonderful!

Letter D - Part 2, Jamming Sessions

Some videos of father and son jamming ...

Kimi loves to step on the paddle

Letter D - Part 1

There are so many things to do and learn about Letter D. It has been a slow week (s) cos I did not want to stress Kimi, being well aware of the change of school environment which he is going through.

Well, trust a mother's instincts? Although Kimi is well-adjusted in school and happily playing & learning with his new little friends. I think he is going thru some sort of stress. Cos he is not as keen as before in learning and throwing quite a bit of tantrums.

So, I kept learning to short bursts. Hopefully, we can both settle down soon. We may be stopping alphabet learning temporarily as I hope to spend the month of December doing Christmas-y learning things. Well, let's see how first...

We were lucky that one of the learning days, hb was around so I let the 2 boys jammed and Kimi learnt that D is also for Drums and there are many different kinds of drums. I think Kimi liked this best? Keke!

I stumbled upon this book, Five Little Ducks by Ivan Bates. I would highly recommend this as it is a fun book. Instead of reading, you can sing and it also also teaches counting. Kimi is not like speaking loads but he suddenly counted from 1 to 3 and in a meaningful way too, not by rote memory.

Why I say this? Cos there were 3 shapes on the bath screen and Kimi used his fingers to point at each piece and counted with it. You can listen to the song here and play the game with your little one. I did not make the craft but used rubber duckies - I was lucky I had 1 red and 5 yellow ones!

We also played "Pin the Donkey's tail" where I printed out pictures of Donkey, Dog & Dinosaur but "removed" the tail. I used velcro to stick on. Showed Kimi 10 seconds and had him him stick the tail back to the respective animal. It's both a memory and sorting game.

The following are a mish-mash of things accumulated for the last 2 weeks. Basically, we learned about and did the following:

1. Subjects
   Durian, dates, dragonfruit
   Dogs, dinosaurs, ducks, dragonfly, donkeys
   Dice(s), Drums (Percussion instruments)
   
2. Reading List
   How Do Dinosaurs Say Good Night – Jane Yolen & Mark Teague
   Dino Pets – Lynn Plourde
   Five Little Ducks – Ivan Bates
   What’s Up Duck – Tad Hills
   I’m A Duck – Teri Sloat
   Fun Dog, Sun Dog – Deborah Heiligman
   Playful Puppy – Lisa Alderson
   
3. Exploratory Fun
   Did crafts like Clay Duck Painting & played with Dragonfly Balloon at the Children’s Garden Carnival
   Visited a dog farm
   
4. Alphabet & strokes practice, etc
   Letter D in big and small caps
   Vertical and horizontal strokes
   Learning about number 1 and what is same and different (workbook)
   
5. Sensorial science
   Touching & tasting fruits
   Learning about the life-cycle of a Dragonfly
   
6. Matching & ESP game
   Using Dinosaur themed cards
   
7. Refining fine motorskill
   Transfer pouring of Dices into containers
   Learning to cut with scissors
   
8. Linking Memory
   
9. Craft
   Making a paper-mache durian
   Making a paper Stegosaurus
   
10. Flashcards
    Types of Dinosaurs, drums

Learning about a Durian and what is spiky and soft. Touching, squashing and smelling it and of course loving it! Hmm!

Learning about the life-cycle of a Dragonfly, rolling and cookie-cutting the play-Doh and having a go at the keyboard after playing with the Drums

Kimi doing his leter and stroke practice using the latest workbooks I bought at Popular Fair. It's so cheap and good! In the middle pix, Kimi learnt about the number 1 and the concept of same and different. A very cute workbook about maths!

Kimi's favourite game! Transferring the dices! He is so tickled and happy whenever all of the Dices fall into the containers. Having a go at matching Dino cards and Linking Memory game.

Our craft Dinosaur which came from a craft book bought at Popular Fair at only $3! It's easy enough for toddlers to handle but you will need craft glue rather than UHU as the cardboard is rather thick and heavy so doesn't really stick well. But the spikes may be a little tricky - just need to cut the slits slightly longer and that will do the trick and allow stubby fingers to insert.
Our completed Dino craft - a Stegosaurus. Kimi playing with his craft and the figurine.

I have a stash of expandable toys of different animals. I know kids love these stuff cos I do too so whenever I see these, I will buy and keep and take them out when the time is right. So, out came this expandable egg which after soaking up water will crack open to reveal a Duckling. A more 'interactive' way to learn about hatching of eggs.

Sadly, this egg seemed 'defective' cos even after soaking for more than 24 hours (and at the right temperature, initially). It still did not 'hatch' as well. I must feedback to the staff cos I buy from this store quite regularly. A little disappointed and upset but Kimi was more than happy to squeeze and play with it! See, different expectations! Haha!

Carnival @ Children's Gardens

I was still 2 minded the night before whether to go. Cos hb is not around and the carpark at CG will be closed. A little apprehensive about logistics in case Kimi decides to be uncooperative. Anyhow, Cam repeatedly asked me to go so decided to brave it. Hee!

After some rain in the morning, the air was rather cool when I arrived and I was happy to see many old friends who were so welcoming and excited to see how much Kimi has grown.

At the entrance, we were greeted by this huge inflatable clown with a bubble machine that spewed hundreds and thousands of lovely bubbles! Kimi was so happy and excited and spent at least 15mins there before I could pull him away.

Kimi decorated a gingerbreadman and I was surprised that the gingerbread was nice, so unlike many I have tasted. He then had a huge Dragonfly balloon (letter D, in line with this week's alphabet learning) and had an Elmo painted on his hand. Never expected he could sit there for the pix to be completed!

Next stop was clay painting and we chose a Duck figurine (needless to say why right? hee!) and the ladies at the same painting table were so fond of Kimi and he really entertained them. After that, we heard some banging but by the time we got there, the percussion workshop using recycled materials like pots, pans and sieve were ending and Kimi was so disappointed!

Luckily the Chinese orchestra was due to start and Kimi's face lit up again! Overall, we both enjoyed ourselves and Kimi had on his best behaviour. Sadly, we couldn't stay longer as it was inching towards Kimi's nap time. After 3+ hours of walking and activities, we both slept like a log when we got home!

Bubbles fascination - never mind the DANGER sign! *Faint!*

The plain gingerbreadman

Then Kimi wanted to bite into it - it smelled really nice! This really evoked X'mas feelings for me ...

Decorating with hands

Adding some final touch

The completed gingerbreadman

Kimi's Giant Dragonfly courtesy of Michelle. Tks Aunty Michelle!

Aunty Sharona painting an Elmo on Kimi. Amazed he could just sit thru the entire painting

Kimi so happy with his painting and kept pointing to it

Getting ready to paint the clay Duckie

Little artist hard at work

In full concentration

Dancing to the Chinese Orchestra!

Guess what we found? Kimi so happy to find a Parasaurolophus hanging on 1 of the branches - what sharp eyes he's got!

Kimi's first clay artwork!