Ashlynn learning CL

What a creative way of getting Adri to revise her CL! She sure had to know how to read the CL characters correctly before she could chuckle at her lil sis' mispronunciations (yes, she did. Notice how she laughed readily and heartily whenever her sister sounded odd to her).

Pic of the Day

Happy kids enjoying happy food!
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自拍

可恩拿起我的手机，拍了几张照片。
如何？还不错吧？
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Mr M&M's

I have absolutely no idea why Adri decided on such a pose. Monkey see, monkey do! Ashlynn followed what Adri did.

Well, objective achieved. Adri wanted a pic with Mr M&M's and Mummy was more than happy to be the photographer. :)
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YJC Performance

Adri had her first Yamaha Junior Class performance last Saturday, 30 June 2012. On top of solfege singing and grooving to the songs that they were taught through the course of 6 months, every student had to play a total of 3 pieces, either on the piano or on the electone.

My exchange with Adri weeks earlier, while we were deciding the pieces...

Me: Adri, would u like to play these pieces? I think u can manage them, they seem easy
Adri: No, Mummy, I don't want to play easy songs
Me (shocked + guilt; guilt for having assumed that she would have naturally chosen the easier pieces): Ok... *hesitant n wondered if she could manage the tougher ones. She had to play a total of 3 pieces!*

Eventually, Adri decided on 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star', 'Mary had a Little Lamb' and 'See You Tomorrow' (which she eventually replaced with 'A Cuckoo Clock').
Could Adri cope with the pieces?
She did far better than what i had expected. Other than singing the notes along with her occasionally n reminding her about finger positioning, I didn't really have to do much. Adri remembered the pieces well! I was simply amazed by how sponge-like little kids were! While i had migraine-like headaches, Adri remained highly energised after her music class n looked forward to her phonics class (30 minutes later) every Saturday! AMAZING...so much for Mummy being worried that Saturday mornings would be too tiring for her.

How did the concert turn out?
Adri did well n Mummy is proud of her. She did groove to the music and sing aloud. Coupling the melodies were the song actions.

While she was at the piano, Adri's gaze was fixed on Mummy who was cheering her on and taking a video clip of she in action. She played without really looking at the keys!
Double the amazement for Mummy.

Adri knew she did well and she felt good about it. Thunderous applause resounded from her die-heart fans (Daddy, Mummy and Mei Mei Ashlynn)!

The headaches were well worth it.

Lesson learnt:
I should never, intentionally or not, limit my child;
"I cannot" does not exist in Adri's dictionary.

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Buddin' Writer

The sense of satisfaction I'm experiencing is indescribable. It is every mother's wish to see her child grow. One can grow in many areas, in many ways.

I'm happy that Adri is growing up happily. Yes, although she fights with Ashlynn and they bicker every day, that itself is growth. Each day, as they squabble, the girls learn a little about conflict management, an important life skill.

At this moment, the sense of satisfaction I'm experiencing stems from Adri's academic 'growth'. From one who could barely read at the beginning of the year, Adri is making good progress deciphering n decoding words. More phonetically skilled (kudos to her phonics class), she has progressed from sounding, spelling and writing simple words to stringing those words together into a sentence! :)

Though 'tough' (and frustrating at times), I'm certainly enjoying the daily sessions I have with Adri, especially when I'm beginning to see the fruit of our (Adri and mine) labour.

Adri is Writing!

I started Adri on writing of simple words recently. In the short 20 minutes or so, Adri does a total of 3 activities daily -
1) sticker pasting + colouring
2) writing of simple words (one word per day)
3) writing of numerals

I decided that since Adri has started to pick up phonics, it was time to start her on simple words. I had absolutely no inkling as to when Adri would start writing sentences independently.

Today, I had a pleasant surprise.
Adri decided that she would like to write a sentence or two about the picture she has drawn! Mummy, of course, was more than glad to help her with it!

Other than 'Jerry' and 'mouse', Adri spelt the rest of the words herself!

Mummy is simply overjoyed and is looking forward to more masterpieces!
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