The Toddler Laughs

Heard chuckles from the direction of the corner of the lounge where J was watching Disney's Bambi on video just now.

Isn't it amazing? My 2 y.o. is developing a sense of humour. :)

As I write, she is curled up on the couch watching Blue's Clues and sniffling.

She's been battling a fever, runny nose and cough for some days and I ran her to the pharmacy today to get some antibiotics.

Hope she recovers in time for our holiday in two days...

Building Social Intelligence

Lately, I've begun to revise my opinion that Beth is an introvert who can only rarely be enticed out of her shell.

She has grown so much as a person after 1.5 years at school.

This year, she has struck up friendships with boys and girls she didn't know last year. She is even on Hi terms with several Grade Preps. Interestingly, she has connected with a wide variety of personalities. Her friends range from extroverts and athletic types to those who are even shyer and quieter than she is.

Tomorrow, she is going over to K's place for a play date.

I always thought K hung out exclusively with two other girls from the same class, but according to K's mom, K and Beth have recently become friends and K actually asked her mom if Beth could come to play. Wow.

Watching Beth march up excitedly to K with notepad and pen, all ready to write down K's address, K's mom turned to me and confided, "Look at them; they're only in Grade 1 and they're already organizing their social lives!"

I have to admit I struggle to accept that once kids start school, the floodgates to individuality are flung wide open and can never again be shut. It's just a matter of time before the little ones are off on their own exciting life journeys and we as parents can only stand by and watch. If asked or needed, we can offer our views and encouragement, but we can no longer rely on our views being treated with the same acceptance and respect as when they were little and dependent.

Becoming A Bilingual Household

The girls are taking huge steps forward in mastering Mandarin.

J now greets adults with "Ni Hao" and can count one to ten in Mandarin.

Beth says "Ni Hao Ah Yi" to the Chinese ladies we meet at school (mostly moms of other students) and they are impressed.

J knows the meaning of "tuo xie". When asked "Ni de tuo xie zai na li?" she looks around the house for her slippers.

Beth has recently struck up a friendship with a boy in the next class who recently arrived from China. She greeted him in the sandpit with "Ni hao!" and was astounded when he replied in a barrage of Mandarin which she couldn't understand. She's taking it very well though. I think this could be an opening for her to be more motivated in learning Mandarin.

J loves Ni Hao Kai-Lan so much that she has practically memorized the dialogue.

Recently, our friend Annie came to stay and brought some DVDs that teach kids how to read and write Chinese characters by deconstructing the base characters.

For instance...
tian2 + li4 = nan2 (male)
xiao3 + da4 = jian1 (sharp)
yi1 + ren2 = da4 (big)

Annie was impressed that Beth already knows the strokes of the characters like heng2, pie3, na4 etc. Her 1.5 years of Chinese lessons are starting to show results. :)

The best thing is that the girls are pretty self-directed and self-motivated; I haven't really pressured them to learn (I did try with Beth but it didn't work for long, so I stopped). What's happening seems to be a natural outflow from their own curiosity and desire to learn.

It's just beautiful.