Aristotle Archives » Nurture for the Future

Happy Mother’s Day, Babylicious Update and Aristotle’s Home Program

How apt that it is Mother’s Day and I have chosen this day to ponder over the future direction of this blog…

So first up, let me wish you Happy Mother’s Day!

Now, on to the next part…

This blog has been a reflection of the journey I have taken since I first discovered I was pregnant with Aristotle. Its direction is not set because it meanders along the course that the growth of my two boys leads me on since our experiences continuously molds and shapes my parenting ideals. Although the kind of parent I want to be has not changed, it is evident that there are many paths that can take me from A to B. Everyday, I have to make choices regarding which paths I want to follow.

Every family is different therefore I do not presume that the path I choose is necessarily the right one or the best one for every family. What I do hope is that it is the right one and the best one for my family. I invite you to join us and share our reflections not so that you will agree with them but so that this journey will not be so lonely. I find that in this age of nuclear families, many of us are isolated and alone in parenthood. It can be a terribly lonely road to walk so let’s walk together. We don’t have to make the same choices, but we can certainly keep each other company along the way.

My boys are growing up and I find myself at the crossroads again. With both of them in school now, I have had to reassess how best to spend my time with them. Aristotle, especially, spends long hours in school – longer, perhaps, than I would have liked. Unfortunately, we don’t really have the option to shorten his school hours due to the limited schooling options here. And as wonderful as homeschooling is, I have been forced to agree that homeschooling is not for us.

Now that the boys are spending a large portion of their time at school, what are we doing at home? Last November, I wrote about what we do with Hercules but I’ve realised that I haven’t really been writing about what we do with Aristotle in a very long time. Perhaps it is because we do not really have a set after school program for Aristotle. So what are some of the things we might do?

Extra-curricular Activities

i-Clay
Taekwondo
Swimming
Heguru

Home Activities

Right Brain Home Practice
BrillKids Little Musician
BrillKids Little French
Brainology
Play Moolah
Brain Training – mostly brain training apps and lumosity
Art – Painting
Art – Play Doh
Lego Construction
Writing Practice – writing by hand helps to develop the brain

I have also been toying with introducing de Bono’s 6 Thinking Hats after reading de Bono’s book on teaching children how to think because de Bono believes that logical thinking is not necessarily acquired naturally but must be taught specifically.

“while a child might be intelligent, it does not necessarily follow that that child will become a good thinker. This is so often the mistaken assumption. In fact, de Bono states that intelligence can sometimes be a trap because “many highly intelligent people often take up a view on a subject then use their intelligence to defend that view. Since they can defend the view very well they never see any need to explore the subject or listen to alternative views.”

But more about this another day…

I’ve also been working with Aristotle on his Math, Reading Comprehension, and Science because he seems to have this idea that “he knows everything” at school and I want him to see that he doesn’t. Learning is an ongoing process that is never ending and I want him to learn to embrace it.

Reading

Aristotle loves to read. His favourite books are:

New book collections he has begun:

Non-Fiction:

Classics collection:

I have been trying to encourage him to get started on more of the classics without much success. I recently made the mistake of reading Tom Sawyer with him and he got put off by the language because they used a lot of old terms he was not familiar with like “getting a lickin'” when they misbehaved and “playing hookey” when skipping school. Perhaps we need to try Classic Starts first.

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What We Did Last Week

by Shen-Li Lee Leave a Comment

My MIL had some errands to run on Monday, so Gavin and I decided to tag along. While waiting for my MIL at the AIA building, Gavin saw a garden outside and kept wanting to go out. It wasn’t exactly a garden per se but more like a driveway for cars to approach so it wasn’t exactly a very appropriate place for Gavin to run around. In the end, we promised that we would take him to KLCC park- which wasn’t the best of ideas since it was approaching noon and the sun was high but I didn’t know where else to take him that was both outdoors and protected from the sun.

I don’t know if it was just a bad day or if it was triggered by the heat, but I started to feel really nauseous after following Gavin around the playground for a bit. Thankfully my MIL was with me, so she took over while I sat down for a rest. Note to self: a trip out to KLCC park is definitely NOT an “easy” activity to do with Gavin. Thank goodness I didn’t try that one on my own. Looks like we’ll stick to Kizsports playland for the time being where I don’t have to stress too much if I let him run off for a bit.

Gavin appears to have a fondness for natural environments because he loves going “outside”. Even when we’re in a shopping mall, he often wants to go out into the open. Considering I used to go hiking and rock climbing on my weekends, I wonder if he’s taken after me in that respect?

Naturally that was also the day I decided not to take the “go bag” so we didn’t have a change of clothes for Gavin in the car. It was also the day he had to spill half a bottle of water down his front so he was drenched before we even made it to lunch (ah… Murphy’s Law). That was how he ended up getting his new Thomas and Friends outfit from Mothercare (which incidentally gives 10% off to Citibank credit card holders – bonus!):

We had ice cream at Baskin Robbins – I had forgotten that Baskin Robbins in Pavillion has this Blue Raspberry sorbet which Gavin goes mad over because it is the colour of Thomas. Naturally, as soon as he clapped eyes on it, he wanted no other flavour except the blue one.

Now why on earth would you colour Raspberry sorbet blue is beyond me – not that red colouring is any better. I tried to offer some feedback to the staff at Baskin Robbins that excessive colouring is not very appropriate for children’s flavours but the serving assistant kept insisting that the Blue Raspberry sorbet was very healthy because it had no fat – somehow I don’t think we were on the same wavelength.

Gavin sensing our reluctance to get him the blue ice cream decided to plead his case but assuring us he would eat “all of it”. Knowing how stubborn my son can be when he’s set him mind on something, I knew it was pointless to offer him another flavour because he simply wouldn’t eat it. So in the end, we let him have the blue ice cream, just this once and true to his word, he eat all of it.

On Tuesday, I took him to Kizsports where I discovered that Gavin is now comfortable sitting on rocking toys (something he never really enjoyed before).

He also kicks balls pretty well, as he demonstrated for me with the little balls from the ball pit.

Tuesday night, we took him out to the Gardens, where he managed to amuse himself for 40 minutes playing with the Thomas and Friends Motor Road and Rail Sodor Airport set on display at Isetan:

It would have been longer if we hadn’t insisted it was time to go. You would think that having a train set at home would make him immune to such displays, but no… I took him back the next day where he amused himself with the Thomas and Friends Mega set on display at Robinsons:

Yes, my son is truly obsessed with Thomas and Friends.

Thursday he had a haircut – more about that here – and Gavin made himself very comfortable in Daddy’s chair at his office:

He was also very busy approving artwork for some print ads:

Then we went to the KLCC convention center to look at the Home Dec fair. We made the mistake of bringing Gavin with us, so in the end, I took him out to the park, while hubby browse through the fair.

I was snapping a few photos of Gavin at the park, when a security lady told me I wasn’t allowed to take photos. What? I can’t take photos in a park? Is that for real? Anyway, these were a few of the shots, I managed to get before she stopped me:

This was an accidental shot but if I had just moved to the right a little, I could have had a nice shot of Gavin with the twin towers in the background – dang! No wonder I’m not a photographer…

Over the long weekend, we went down to Singapore and that pretty much wraps up our week.

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Funny Friday: The Napkin Holder

by Shen-Li Lee Leave a Comment

Gavin was slightly over a year old when this happened…

We were sitting at a restaurant in the club and Gavin was helping himself to the napkins in the napkin holder. My FIL then said, “Gavin, stop playing with the napkins and put them back.”

Gavin stopped mid-action and looked my FIL straight in the eye. Then he dribbled saliva down his chin, picked up a fresh napkin and proceeded to wipe his mouth.

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Tell-Me-Thursday: The Hair Cut

by Shen-Li Lee Leave a Comment

Here’s the story behind yesterday’s Wordless Wednesday – The Hair Cut.

Gavin was due for another haircut so the hubby and I braced ourselves as we took him to A Cut Above at Midvalley, where he had had two successful haircuts in a row. All our past experiences cutting Gavin’s hair has always been rather traumatic (for both parents and Gavin) so we always dread having to get his hair cut. Nevertheless, it had to be done, so off we went.

Unfortunately, Gavin already remembers the place and the past trauma he had experienced there so he started to fuss even before the hairstylist was in the scene. By the time everything was set up and ready, Gavin was screaming fit to burst and all we ended up getting done was an accidental shave off one side of his head.

As usual, we gave him two options – cut his hair now by the professional who would make him look handsome or let Daddy give him an ugly haircut when we got home. Willing to do anything that meant he could leave the salon, Gavin agreed to the ugly haircut when we got home. By the time we got home, he had fallen asleep so his haircut was deferred until he woke up.

Persistent Daddy came after him with the clippers as soon as he woke up and Gavin balked again. We gave him another choice – either Mummy or Daddy to cut his hair. As expected, he chose Mummy but was still extremely apprehensive about getting his hair cut. To calm him, I used my hands and pretended they were a pair of scissors and started to “mock” cut his hair as I explained to him what I was going to do. He calmed down enormously and allowed Daddy to finish the haircut with the clippers. It was probably the first and only time Gavin has been calm all the way through a haircut.

I think what helped this time was the fact that he is now old enough to be reasoned with.

Unfortunately, Ah Kong wasn’t too happy with Daddy’s hairstyling efforts, so when we next visited him at work, he got one of his workers (who was apparently a former professional hairstylist) to cut Gavin’s hair. Held by Granny L and distracted by my MIL, Gavin cooperated very well all the way through the haircut. The result can be seen in the photos from yesterday’s Wordless Wednesday.

So here’s what I think worked well:

the fact that Gavin had already had one calm experience cutting his hair at home with Mummy and Daddy (part of the reason why I think Gavin hates haircuts because he remembers it to be a time when he was crying and Mummy and Daddy forcing him to keep going).
Ah Kong’s worker used scissors instead of the clippers which makes a terrible droning noise.
Ah Kong’s worker was a new person he had never associated with past trauma.
the environment was also different – he had never had a haircut in Ah Kong’s office before.
he was distracted by two different people (who weren’t Mummy and Daddy – the two culprits responsible for all his former haircut miseries).
my MIL had something new and interesting that he has never played with before – the clippers.