Still a baby

I watched Beth perform with the other Sunday School kids when we visited an aged care home today.

And as I watched her sing and do the hand actions and make herself part of the team, I felt such pride and joy.

I also thought, she's still a baby! I didn't say that to her of course, but it struck me how all the other kids (being much older) had lost that babyish quality that is visible on the faces of preschoolers. 

Beth, for all her obsession with word games and Harry Potter books, still has that quality in abundance. Her natural shyness and reticence just brings it out.

J is a baby still, even at 21 months. She has the fat rosy cheeks, fleshy thighs, cute little toes, perfect fat ankles and unblemished feet (lovely for tickling). She smiles readily and makes friends easily. I blush with pride when church friends go "Oh, she's just precious" and they offer to carry her if I'm busy. The kids pick her up and pass her around - and she lets them.

My two babies are gorgeous, each in their own unique way. Thank you God for blessing me with such adorable, lovely children. Help me raise them to praise you and revere your name.

J Can't Stop Talking

CA wants me to keep a record of what J is saying.

Which is very hard when she says new things all the time.

Yesterday, she spoke her first words in Mandarin.

She managed all these without hesitation: ba ba, ma ma, ge ge, jie jie, di di, mei mei.

And here's the best one: she can say ni hao - very clearly too!

I am absolutely thrilled that my Aussie-born offspring can speak Mandarin at all.

She can also say: apple, ball, hug (and stretch out her arms), pain (and point to her head or whichever part she's injured), kiss, Bob (for Bob The Builder), clock, watch, car, duck, plane...

She can give a high-five, do the Head and Shoulders song, Mr Knickerbocker, and the Wiggles's Everybody Clap song.

First Keyboard Performance

On Fathers' Day, Beth had her first taste of performing publicly on the keyboard.

She and her classmates memorized and played a simple prepared piece, with her teacher Sarah Kent accompanying.

These annual Yamaha concerts are a great way to build up confidence and overcome stage fright.

Some of the littlies looked like they were only 3 or 4 y.o., yet there they were, happily swinging their little legs from the keyboard benches and waving at their parents in the audience.

The concert was held at the Methodist Ladies College in Kew, which gave us a chance to revisit that lovely eastern suburb with beautiful tree-lined streets and the most gorgeous weatherboard cottages.

Kew - postcode 3101 - is the place to live if you're loaded and want your kids to attend $10K-a-year private schools.

All the private schools are located in a cluster along Barkers Road.

I looked at RealEstate.com.au today. 

A one-bedroom apartment in Kew starts at $289K. Apartment!!

A three-bed, one-bath villa unit would cost more than $500K.

Then again, when I think of how much I paid for my HDB flat in 1996...

Don't let's go there. *heart pain*

A-B-C

CA borrowed a Smart Baby video for J from the City Library.

It's very Baby Einstein in its concept: classical music played with floating images of A-Z.

J loves it.

She can now say "apple" and "bubble" and "elephant" quite clearly after watching the video several times.

I love how she goes "air air air" after being prompted, "A is for apple...?"

That was how Beth learnt phonics too.

Mem Fox

We were really privileged to attend a talk by Mem Fox on Tue night.

Mem Fox is something of an icon here. She's a bestselling Australian children's writer and literacy educator. She goes round Australia and USA preaching the importance of reading aloud to children. She is most famous for her book Possum Magic.

I've never read her books, although I've heard her name mentioned since Beth was at kinder.

Beth's class watched the Possum Magic musical a few months ago at the Wyndham Cultural Centre.

From all accounts, the kids loved it.

What I took away from the talk were three things:

a. We read aloud to children for their hearts, their brains, their words and their futures.

b. It's very sad that babies as little as 3 weeks old are placed in day care, where there is no one to touch them and read aloud to them and stimulate their little brains. (This was really a side point. Mem was trying to clarify what she'd actually said which the newspapers had misquoted and sensationalised. The unfortunate result was that she was portrayed as "slamming childcare" and working mothers went up in arms at being criticized by Mem.)

c. Babies are born with 25% of their brain developed. To help the brain develop, we need to stimulate the baby through its five senses. Reading aloud is a very good way to stimulate the baby. A baby who receives proper stimulation will be more likely to be clever and happy. If we can help our children be clever and happy just by reading aloud to them, why wouldn't we?