babee tales

Monday, 21 April 2008

Down with a bad cough today, so I decided not to go to work and spread the germs around. It's been an eventful weekend. Gary says our weekend schedule is always so "on-the-ball", running here and there from dawn to dusk. Maybe it's just that I wanna squeeze in as much time with both my babies (the big baby, gary and the small one, nat).

This weekend, we brought nat to a Kindermusik class, near my place. I kinda like the environment there, mainly because of the small size (only 3 babies in the class) and it helped that it was in a non air-con environment. I've always been particular about 2 things, when scouting for interesting places for nat a) lots of space for her to run around b) non air-con environment (strong believer in the merits of fresh air). Nat enjoyed herself thoroughly, and I may consider bringing her for another class.

These days, I've also been scouting around for a school for nat. Her Julia Gabriel classes will come to an end June and I've decided not to continue there. Instead, I'm considering other options like Shichida (some right brain stimulation thingey), Montessori (it's an approach to teaching kids that will nurture them to be independent individuals). Over the last week, have been researching a lot, still kind of undecided what to do. Before I start sounding like a kiasu parent, stressing nat out with lots of classes, actually I'm not. It's just that I think it would be good for her to be exposed to some activities, instead of staying at home all day. For example, I truly believe that her 2 terms at Julia Gabriel have helped her immensely in terms of confidence in walking, and also her social skills when interacting with other kids.

Over the weekend, we also brought nat to Bras Basah. Heard that there are a lot of second hand books there at cheap cheap prices. I did manage to buy a small stack of interesting books for nat. Books are in decent condition and nat seems to enjoy it. I've decided to be a more diligent mummy and have started to read to nat every day. Surprisingly, she can stay quite focused and I'm pleased with that.

Finally, this weekend I also introduced nat a new activity, recommended by a friend. Bought her a bucket of sidewalk chalk from Crayola and taught her to scrawl out on the balcony. It's a much better option than paint, if you have a balcony or sidewalk for the kids to draw. The beauty is that after the session, you just have to wait for the rain to wash the chalk away. No cleaning up needed. Phew, this kept nat occupied for an hour!