About books again

Yup still under the same topic here is what Times has to offer for the KK folks ;p

Inculcating reading habits in children

I wanted to keep and share these great tips from a mom taken from Paren Thots. I hope both Ethan and Eli will grow up loving books :) And talking about books, do you know you can order books from Book Depository without having to pay for shipping fees? Yes, thy offer free delivery world wide and I've already ordered and received a few books from there ;p

Anyway read these 6 useful tips if you too want to instill good reading habit on your children :)

1- Bring our children to the nearest library every week.
We used to live in Hamilton, New Zealand, for 3 1/2 years. There are some local libraries available there for everybody. So, every week without fail, we would bring our children to Hillcrest Library to borrow some books, CDs and puzzles. They really love to spend their time there. Right now, we make sure that we will buy some books every month so we can have our own mini library soon!

 2- Spend about 30 minutes per day to teach them phonemes.
The best way to teach is to make sure that it's going to be an interesting approach like using starfall.com as a tool or any kind of teaching tools. I used flashcards with my eldest daughter but with my second daughter, I have to let her choose what she likes to do as she has a shorter attention span compared to her sister.


3- Play “I spy with my little eyes" whenever we go out.
It's a must for us to play this game because it can also help me to redirect their attention while waiting in the car before we reach our destination. As both of them have recognised letters and even phonemes, I always ask them to spot some words or letters around them.


4- Prepare a nice corner or even a conducive room for our kids to learn.
Kids love to see something colourful and exciting. So, we have dedicated a special corner with a special bookcase, table and chairs for them to sit and read their favaourite books. They can use the place any time they like and they have regarded it as their special place to have fun!


5- Story time every night.
This is a must even when we are so tired and busy. At least we will spend about 10 minutes to tell a simple story or choose a page from their favourite story book. Sometimes we even create our own story when we want our imagination to run wild!


6- Make a book as MUST for their birthday present.
Every time other people ask what to buy for our kids' birthdays, we prefer that they buy more books rather than toys. Our kids love them too and they never get tired or bored with books compared to toys. They will only get excited about new toys for few weeks and then they will completely forget about the toys.

Eli's wobbly but soon to be steady walk ;p

Eli is getting better in walking...he is beginning to walk more than crawling now...by the time the daddy comes home he might be walking steadily :)

Handy Eli

I hope Eli will not smash his toy to pieces too soon ;p

YES or NO as simple as that

I was reading about the fantastic move that the Health Ministry is doing in trying to curb obesity issue in Malaysia. Various measures are being proposed to keep our children healthy including to list the BMI result in their report cards, banning some unhealthy food, recommending healthy food etc. I totally 101% support the move as both Ethan and Eli will eventually be going to school and I do worry about the kind of food they will eat in school as we will not be there to monitor them.

But what irk me most is when I hear things like this morning over the radio. We now know that the Government plans to ban Nasi Lemak from the school canteen and as I would  expect there are of coz protest especially from the Nasi Lemak sellers. Understand they will grumble especially if that is their main source of income. Anyway, upon hearing the complains and how it will affect a group of people's livelihood, I heard over the radio that there is a proposal to still allow the school canteen to sell Nasi Lemak twice a week. At that point in time I was like, what the heck are they doing??!! Ok, let's say that is allowed, for those who just can't resist Nasi Lemak (btw I do love Nasi Lemak!) after being deprive from it for a day or two he/she may want to not only take 1 pack but perhaps 2 or even 3 packs (breakfast, lunch and tea time) of Nasi Lemak in a day!! So tell me how does tht help to prevent obesity in our community??! It is the same concept as when you are very hungry u tend to eat more to ease your hunger...Why can't thy set a rule that sticks to the MAIN objective which in this case is to prevent obesity. IF they really are serious about it why can't they propose instead of allowing Nasi Lemak to be sold in the school canteen twice a week, please give the sellers a new list of healthy food that thy can prepare and sell instead. HELLOO.... please think out of the box and be creative, smart, forward looking and positive okay...when there is challenge why can't we sit down, discuss and think of a better way to solve the problem before we open our mouths instead of acting 'gabra' and talk nonsense and embarrass ourselves! Come on we're are better than that right?! Double BIG sigh...

Photo of the day

Ethan at 6 months old

Eli at 12 months old.

The boys 1st trip to the cinema

Hubby and myself have been talking about bringing the boys to the cinema for quite a while...and after some thoughts we finally brought them to GSC Suria Sabah last saturday. Earlier on I was reluctant to bring Ethan to the cinema as Ethan being Ethan will not be able to sit still thus will be a bit hard to handle...I was afraid he will be running up and down the cinema aisle or worst still making so much noise that we have to leave the place in minutes upon entering! But now that he is bigger and has improved in terms of staying put and listening to instructions we thought why not to give it a try...as for Eli, we thought we just gamble tagging him along..if he cries I will bring him out and go for window shopping hee..I had my SCC ready with me in case that happens hehehe..

Anyway, am glad to say that Ethan was okay considering it was his first movie at the cinema. We watched Hop since that was the only children movie available on that day. Ethan managed to finished the whole movie except a trip to the toilet which ended up hubby buying popcorn to perhaps lure Ethan back to the cinema theatre ;p Eli on the other hand was a bit uneasy in the beginning especially with the loud sound effect and the huge screen! hehe...but he settled down after a while though he was a bit apprehensive in between which I gave him his milk to calm him down...but towards the last 15 mins he couldn't take it anymore so I brought him out...and guess what I ended up doing with him?? I had to go up the escalator and down the staircase a few rounds to keep him quiet from his crocodile tears!! Yeah just like his big bro, he loves going on the escalator too. He even refused me carrying him when we went down using the escalator to the parking floor...he only wants hubby to carry him..perhaps he thought I will not bring him on it again after I stopped to entertain his 'request' earlier on ;p Oh well, at least the boys had an enjoyable time and we managed to strike of one of the many things that we wanted to do with Ethan (and Eli for that matter). So yeah a trip (the first one that is) to the cinema is off the list now. And since the boys were rather well behaved we can consider bringing them out for a movie again next time ;p