IDLAN ASYRAAF
If you noticed, I never did finish my story about Bangkok. Really really lazy lah to update that story. End of story - it was a great and fun trip. Hope we can still afford mini excursions like this, even with all the savings geared for our future home in Subang Bestari.
Idlan turned two last month. It was a quite nucleus family BBQ dinner, unlike the big party we had marking his 1st year milestone. Physically he is quite big for a 2 year old, you'd think that he's 3. However, his paedi says that he is "at a good weight".. so no worries there - go ahead just blame it on the genes!!
A little over 4 months ago we discovered that he could recognize most of the alphabets and numbers 1 - 10. We were quite surprised as my niece who is a year older was still confused with some of the alphabets. Who'd guess that our small scale stimulations of ABC VCDs, inconsistent sessions of flashing keywords (Glen Doman style) and our storybook time worked wonders. Of course credit has to be given to his inquisitive nature. Nowadays, he may not be able to recite fully the alphabets, but he easily recognizes capital & small alphabets, without any confusion. He relates letters to words when he communicates with us, for example:
"Nak 'M'!" whenever we pass a MCDonalds restaurant.
"Nak 'E'!" at the breakfast table, asking for an egg.
"Mama, look, "H", "H"" when we pass a row of houses.
He has also started to relate to phonics of certain alphabet, e.g. the letter "M".
Ada this one day, he told me "M.... Momok.... M....mamam", of course these aren't really real words! But its a start I guess :)
I am currently eager to teach him to read. Too early huh? But actually,its never too early! Glen Doman suggests that we start flashing cards as early as lepas pantang, for babies to develop spatial literacy. However, I'm not going to push him. I'll just play the role of the initiator, and we'll see how it goes... go with the flow.
I have not actually started yet, still doing my research here on the best method - key word recognition vs phonics. I think most probably, I'll try the former, using flash cards and the all-time favourite beginner --> Peter & Jane. Then, only will I begin to introduce him to the wonder of phonics.
Well, thats his brain development faculty.
In terms of social development, he is quite a difficult personality to deal with. His tantrums are a handful. He won't share.. he screams!... he cries for no apparent reason... and everything for him has to be "perfect". For the past once year, we have taken him to Tumble Tots, for him to develop through purposeful playing and of course to socialise! His social skills have improved... but of course, theres still lots of room for improvement. Currently, our biggest, paramount challenge is the inevitable potty train and weening from the milk bottle. Arghh...susahnya! Or is it MALAS on my part??!!! But change is of course inevitable, especially when the prospect of him outgrowing the largest baby diaper size, is fast becoming a reality. Its "TING TONG, wake up call" for us lah.
So thats my 2 year-old pride & joy. Can't live with him, neither can you live without him!
ps: will upload a recent pix of him soon.