A few of her favourite things...

Home teaching babydoll isn't going on much. I have to juggle between chauffeuring the boy to and from school, her naps and running errands and my erm, own personal shopping. But then again, at this age, it's all about feeding her curiosity and lots of exploring.

Still, there are a few activities i do with her daily- or at least i try my hardest to.

One of her all time favourite things: reading books. At times, i can find her sitting contentedly flipping her books. I am very pleased that she can sit through as i read 5-6 infant books to her. In fact, she often get upset when i stop reading, just like sonshine! Also like her brother, she would often pick a book from a room and attempt to crawl to me with the book in her hand. It's very endearing sight to behold.

Her all time favourite book!

Each time her eyes lay on this book, she would immediately pick it up, cruise or crawl up to one of us and look us with all eagerness and say 'EH!" translated as 'read!'. She is not satisfied if we just read once through. We would have to read at least 3 times over consecutively before she allows us to put the book down.

Another all time favourite book, Barnyard Banter by Denis Fleming.

Thanks to my mom, who first started reading this book to her. Since then she cannot get enough of this book. I had thought the book text was too long for baby her age given their short attention span. But she surprise me by sitting through the entire book and still ask us to read another round for her.

Oh gosh, you don't know how i have to stop myself from rolling my eyes or sigh whenever she hands me these two books. I'm so tempted to hide the books to keep my sanity but i really should celebrate her love for books.

I've been doing Glenn Doman flashcards with her. I think i've been quite successful with her. Or at least she is now sitting and focusing on the cards as i flash without fidgeting. She seems to enjoy the session more and more too. But i haven't been consistent because we've had numerous interruptions such as illness (i had mastitis, she had viral fever right after). I am hoping things would pick up again this week.

The other flashcards i am doing with her is Photographic speed memory. I used sets of pictures cards and flash at her at high speed. Seriously, i do not know if it really helps with memory. But my niece and sonshine went through it and their memory is..well like photographic. I honestly do not know if its nature or nurture. If anything, at least the flashcards help to train her ability to focus and up her attention span. Oh well, there's no harm, there's nothing to lose, so why not?

So this week, I'm showing her cards on different types of balls.

And sea animal cards.

I don't have time or inspiration to set up toys for her to practise fine motor skills. I read somewhere that there's no need to deliberately buy or set up toys for the baby because the natural environment is full of opportunities for them to explore with their fingers. From my observation, i tend to agree. Babydoll has been creating her own activities like taking things out/ putting things in boxes, Sonshine's school bag, containers etc.

Just the other day, i was sorting out Chinese wooden dominoes for sonshine, putting one block at a time back in its box. Babydoll was watching me and began to imitate me. She picked up the dominoes and put them into the box one at a time. Just like that, an activity was created for her!

But above all, she enjoys ransacking her brother's toys especially the Tomica carpark set. It keeps her entertain for awhile. A few days ago, she discovered a small compartment in the toy and attempted to slot toy cars in and watch them pop out. How cute.

And these are a few of her favourite things! Oh and not forgetting calling me 'MAMA!' awwww....

Books Galore!

Babydoll isn't very interested in Glenn Doman cards- much to my dismay. Although i know there are many other effective ways of teaching her ro read but that is really the only way i know how (and im lazy to research for new ways). Sigh.

BUT the fortunate thing is she enjoys our reading session. She perks up when i announce "Read book time!". Typically, before each flashcards session, i would read a few books. Once, i tried doing the flashcards without reading the books- she wasn't very pleased. Opps. MUST.READ.FIRST.MUMMY.

Her all time favourite book is the Usborne 'That's not my..' series. Her new found favourite are books by Karen Katz. I recently introduced to her Sandra Boynton's (my favourite author) book, 'Fuzzy Fuzzy, Fuzzy'- we both enjoy it very much. These books are interactive and she enjoys touching the different textures and lifting the flaps.

Lately, i borrowed a non-interactive book. As i was reading that book, the little doll reached out her hand and scratch the pages as i read- she was trying to look for flaps to lift! I thought that was adorable although that poor little darling was scratching the entire book only to find out there were no flaps! LOL!

She's also into opening books and turning its pages. I can always find her in a corner trying to pry open the books with her cute little fingers.

Now that we are reading to her, i find our library trips have become more challenging than before! We always max out all our cards- that's 24 books! And we visit the library every week! Yes, we read ALL the books- over and over and over again till i get really sick- that's why i insist we go change weekly! We must be a ridiculous sight after each trip with us lugging the kids and 2 very heavy bags!

Well, although our flashcards are not as successful as i like it to be, I'm still happy that she is taking to reading well- i sure hope it stays this way!

Baby Doll has started!

Obviously, i can't quite teach Babydoll anything, she's still an infant. But we've made a simple step.

I've been doing Glenn Doman flashcards. At this point, it's not about teaching her how to read. I just want her to be familiar with the flashcard routine and also to learn how to focus on the cards.

And we read of course! I only started now because i was waiting for her to be interested and i was procrastinating actually. Some time back, my mother read to a her book and i knew she was ready from the way she was looking at it. That's why our library bag is way heavier than ever before!