Update on the boys

It's been awhile since I last updated my blog on how the kids are doing. How fast they have grown - Jon was just a little baby cuddling in my arms and now he has grown so tall.

Jonathan at 2 yrs 4 mths : -

- A very well mannered kid. He accidentally hit me the other day and I instinctively said, "Ouch!" Before I could say anything else, he said "(S)Orry mummy!" looking very apologetic.

- Jon is still mastering pronounciations like "S"s and "F"s. This was the same for Justin. I remember Justin telling his teacher "I want weet, I want weet" and I only figured out later that he wanted sweets.

- Jon has been fixing jigsaw puzzles recently. He absolutely loves them and always insists on completing 2 Thomas puzzles at a time. He mixes both up and puts them back again. After finishing the 6 Thomas puzzles he still wants to fix them "again".

Since I do not intend to send Jon to school yet, I have started to teach him alphabets at home.

I managed to find a library which has children's English books. More choices for bedtime stories (*Smiles*). Chinese books are lacking here though. I will have to stock up more books when I go back to Singapore.



Justin at 5 yrs 6 mths : -

As kids grow bigger, they will spend more time learning and writing. Being in K2 now, he has English homework everyday and spelling test on Fridays. Getting him to sit down to do his homework can be a challenge at times. Especially after a long day of school, a light snack ad shower would take him to about 4:30pm. Then another half an hour play before he starts his school homework.

I am now trying out a new motivation system for Justin. This is how it works:

Each day I have a list of things for him to do (e.g. brush teeth, breakfast, change on his own, do homework, etc). When he completes all the things on the list, he gets 10 red beans. The red beans are collected in a jar and when the jar is full, he gets any reasonable present he chooses. If he misbehaves, eg. shows Jon something which he shouldn't be doing, one bean will be taken out from the jar.

Beans in the jar - Day 3

I have also set up a "Spelling Box" for him and put all the spelling words that he has learnt in previous weeks into the box. This acts as a revision, for him to to remember how to spell the words even after his tests. He gets one bean for every word spelt correctly. He has been pretty excited over the spelling box because he gets to pick the words himself. He always asks me to test him on the spelling and we have been practising it every morning before school.

Let's hope this is one way to motivate him to be a well-behaved and responsible boy.

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On another note, Justin is very serious when it comes to reading. Sometimes I see him sitting quietly reading his My Complete Thomas Story Library and Thomas the Tank Engine-The New Collection books. His school teacher commented the other day that his reading is advanced for his grade. (*Smiles*) Now to focus on other areas. (*Wink*)