Bibinogs Term 2 - Lesson 10

This week is baby Reagan's last lesson for term 2 at Bibinogs! I'm sure he is going to miss his lessons and also his dear teachers who have nothing but lots of praises for him as always. He had came to class without his nap and surprisingly it did not affect his attention span and able to participate actively in all segments of the activities today. 

 Today craft-time is mixing blue and yellow paint to create the colour green. Baby Reagan is enjoying his snacks while listening to his teacher's instructions.

Since his day 1 in class till now, he is still so much in love with his phonics and alphabets and shows so much enthusiasm EVERY time his teacher recite the phonics chant for him. 

Baby Reagan is described as a calm, observant and smiley baby, with good ability to focus and engaged well to his teachers and lessons. 

 We truly enjoy the two terms of lessons with Bibinogs and along the way, we learned so much from each other and also cherish the bonding time we had together. There are some songs we learnt from the school and till now Baby Reagan will smile or wave his arms in excitement when I sing them to him. And of course his favourite animals phonics which he is so obsessed with that both his daddy and I memorized and recite to him everyday. 

Still, it's time we get to explore other enrichment schools and work on cultivating his other areas of interest. Probably in future he will return to join the older toddler programme.

I was also told that his teachers are constantly checking out this blog for his updates, so baby Reagan shall use this chance to say "HELLO" and wants you all to know that he is definitely missing all of you! :)

Mini Shepard's Pie

This is a very simple Shepard's pie recipe that I modified to turn it into a suitable light meal for the kids at the picnic later.

1) Mash cooked white potato and sweet potato together. It is not necessary to add any butter or flavorings to enhance the taste, the sweet potato itself will give a natural sweetness which the babies  love.

2) Simmer finely chopped carrot and onions with olive oil in a frying pan.

3) Throw in the minced chicken meat and tomato puree. Usually I homemade my own puree with organic tomato,red peppers and garlic as the sauce for the meat fillings, but due to time constraint, I used the off-the-shelf jar for today instead. 

 4) Filled up the base of the container with the meat fillings and cover them up with the mashed potato. I added a sprinkle of parsley and bacon bits on top for visual purposes.

 5) And there you go, quick, easy & healthy little Shepard's pies for the little ones.They are equally enjoyed by the adults too and Isa can prove that !

 Baby Reagan had two servings before we made our way to the picnic and had one more serving there! 

Ade-Isa-Addy + 2 boys 'Picnic @ Bontanical Garden

A Monday evening is well-spend with a lovely picnic at Bontanical Garden. Just women and kids lazing under the warm sunshine and enjoying the pretty scene of lush greenery. I imagined that if Reagan can walk now, he would be running around hysterically with little Imm and both of them can play "catch" or take turns to scare the poor swans and pigeons haha!

Addy is one strong and energetic preggy mama! Proud of her!

 

The little boys having their own "men's 'talk"

 Baby Reagan's hair messed up by Aunt Isa !

 Baby Reagan was truly entertained by Aunt Isa and gave her a kiss!

 My Shepard's pie specially made for the kids, but Isa love it the most! Will share the recipe soon.

Baby Reagan's 1st hightea date with Baby Fleur

 Baby Reagan's first date with sweety Fleur and he was certainly thrilled to bits!

 

A nice relaxing high tea session is definitely necessary for both busy mamas.Thanks for the photos babe! Catch up real soon!

Letter of the week- c

C for "c" "c" "Carrot"! Baby Reagan gets to explore the carrot. I just took it out from the fridge, therefore it was cold and Reagan enjoys touching the cold texture of the carrot skin. It feels "c" "c" "cold" !

My next word is "c" "c" "caterpillar" 

The book below was one of Reagan's birthday presents, and I finally read it out loud to him today. Its title "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" by Eric Carle. Of course he was more interested in waving the poor caterpillar plushie around, instead of listening to my story...

After introducing him the caterpillar, we did carrot-printing and painted out a caterpillar!

Our cute "c" "c" "caterpillar" made with our "c" "c" "carrot" !

New veg of the week- Beetroot

This week I added beetroot into his weekly purees.
Benefits of beetroot for babies - Rich in minerals & vitamins, decrease risk of anemia, protects liver and increased brain activity.
Beetroot contains high amount of nitrates, therefore it is more advisable to give in small amount, steam or boil properly and to mix with other vegetables, especially if child is younger than a year old.

During baby Reagan's teething stage now, he preferred his purees to have more texture, so instead of pureeing till it's smooth and creamy, I mashed them with a fork instead.
Preparing the beetroots can be quite messy as they stained my hands and entire kitchen counter with its purple dye. Well, still I hope baby boy likes this new vegetable introduced to him this week.

Bibinogs Term 2 - Lesson 9

Baby Reagan now feeds himself during snack time in class! Bravo!

TreehouseCafe & Fidgets @ Turf City

We heard that Turf City has turned into a kids-friendly mall after its revamp and thought it may be worth a visit with baby Reagan this weekend. I was attracted by the play area of Treehouse Cafe and suggested stopping there for lunch. They served both asian and western cuisine but nothing to rave about though. In fact hubs commented everything tasted "cheap" and not worth the price.  I felt the play area was quite messy and some of the toys were broken with parts falling off, which could be dangerous for babies.

Baby Reagan enjoying his time with mummy & daddy.

 After our not-so-satisfying meal, we wanted to take baby Reagan to one of the indoor playgrounds there and was contemplating between Fidgets at 3rd floor and Kiddy Fun at 4th floor. Finally we chose Fidgets because it looks much bigger with a separate babies play area. Furthermore, it's free for babies 12 months and below!

 A fufilling weekend with our baby boy and I'm sure soon we'll be coming back here again!

Yogurt-y Biscuit-y puree !

A sweet mummy friend of mine gave me the idea of creating biscuits puree as baby's snack. I came out with my own recipe and baby Reagan loves it so much that he even whines when he finished everything...he wants more! My baby boy is a fussy eater, and so anything that can approve with his taste buds get me excited!

-Heinz biscuits (or any baby biscuits)
-Yogurt (I bought the brand Mundella, yogurt for babies & toddlers)
-Banana (any fruit that your baby likes will work, eg peach, avocado, blueberries..)

Just mash or pureed them together! Ta-dah!

Bibinogs Term 2 - Lesson 8

Today is baby boy's makeup lesson from the previous week that we missed. We reached the school early and I allowed him to crawl around the classroom first while waiting for his classmate. And today is also the first time he kissed his classmate on her lips when she came over to give him a hug. Awww...well i hoped the baby's girl mama doesn't mind though...haha!

Update of 5 mins daily home practice for 1 yr old

Home practice for my 1 year old (corrected age 9.5mths old)

-some changes to his daily 5mins home practice.

1) Increase to 20 topics of flashcards
I started off with 10-15 topics when he was still a baby, and now I've increased to 20 different topics and gradually trying to add on to 25 sets. Usually I flash all his cards once a day only but on certain nights when he is still energetic and can't get to sleep, I will take out 10-15 sets of his retired cards and flash to him again.

2) Retired the BabyCanRead books but continue its sliding words cards.
Baby Reagan seems to have lesser patience for books reading now. He prefers the pages to be flipped fast, otherwise he would either try to flip it himself before I can finish reading, or he would just simply crawl away happily. Therefore I decided to stop his books reading for a period of time first, before trying it again some day. I really want to start the habit of reading him a book before putting him to bed at night. But I guess I'll have to begin this habit probably when he's slightly older like 18mths to 2 yrs old.

2) Add in 5 mandarin Glenn Doman words cards to his current English cards.
Everyone at home and even in school, speaks to him in English. Probably it's time he needs some Mandarin input as well.

3) Add in Peg Memory cards
Ever since he started his Heguru class, I prepared a set of Peg Memory cards which show similar items that are flashed by his teacher in class, just to get him to be familiar with it. I just flashed once to him and made a story to link the items together. So far he has yet to show much interest in it, probably just treat is as one of his usual flashcards topic.

4) Changed new Phonics Cards
I've retired his "ZooLander" phonics cards, the animals one where are used in his Bibinogs class, and changed to another new set of pictures. He is still loving his alphabets and phonics sounds. Even his grandparents picked up phonics just to entertain him because it made him so smiley and happy when someone sing the alphabet song and recite the phonics for him. Sometimes I randomly pick up 2 cards and get him to "Hi-5" to the alphabet I'm looking for. I can say he gets it right like 75% of the time, especially if you want him to look for his favorite picture like the "A for apple" or the "D for dog". On certain times I try to do ESP game with him with the cards below too, one of the segment from Heguru class as well,eg. telepathy or clairvoyance.

I'm still keeping his home practice strictly 5 minutes and always stop before he wants to stop. Every session is our fun bonding time together and I hope baby Reagan continues to enjoy it further. 

Baby in the BathTub!

Baby Reagan is old enough to be bathed in our bathtub now!

Byebye to his baby tub!

Letter of the week : b

This week I moved on to alphabet letter 'b", and because baby Reagan is recovering from his flu and is still pretty moody, I thought I should do an easier activity today, hopefully one that doesn't run his patience out.

B for "b" "b' banana!

 I brought out a bunch of bananas and demonstrated to him how to peel the skin off and get him to show it to me. However he was more eager to stuff the whole thing into his mouth or squash them with his palms and fingers. Still, I think he did enjoy the bananas messy exploration.

Next is "b" 'b" bubbles! I bought a bubble machine gun from Toy "r" Us and try to excite him with the bubbles! I guessed it must be the hot weather (or maybe his mood), he doesn't seem as interested to catch the bubbles like how he did in school. He just sit and stared. 

Instead my brother's guitar in the room caught his attention and he attempted to pluck the strings. Each time he struck a tune, he looked up and smiled proudly at me. My baby boy is such a cheeky pie!