Ryan : Kindy Activities Updates @Tadika Ceria Az-Zahrah

How time flies and we're already in the 2nd Quarter of 2014 :) Time for a quick update on the activities that Ryan has been involved in school so far. My little boy have been quite busy, we've enrolled him in a "Bijak Baca" and "Pra Tahfiz" classes which takes place after his morning session kindy (Monday- Friday). He is also still attending his speech classes every Saturday. 

Quite a hectic timetable for a 4.5 year old, huh? But he's enjoying it and Lan and I think this would be a good training for him when he enters Standard 1 in 2016 (InShaAllah) His Tahfiz classes have also tremendously helped improved his speech and he is also able to memorize Surah Al-Fatihah, 3 Qul and the first 5 ayat of Surah Yassin. MasyaAllah I've never been more proud of this little boy. 

The feedback I've been getting from his teachers/therapist have also been very positive.As much as I'm delighted  to hear about his development in the academic department, what really made me really happy is the input on his attitude on learning. He is very determined to learn new skills, love asking question and very hardworking.The only problem with this little boy is he's a bit kiasu and competitive (god knows where he get that trait from :p) 

His "pelatness" is a blessing in disguise. He knows that he needs to work harder than his peers when it comes to his speech so he does not take things for granted. Alhamdullilah it helped shape him to be the cheeky, intelligent and hardworking boy that he is today. Anyway after hours of going through the pics from his school FB photo archive, I managed to collate some pictures of my little boy in action :)

Classroom Activities

Sand Castle Building Activity

Personal Hygiene Week : Learning how to wash their own clothes

Trip to Tesco 

To learn about personal safety (not to speak to strangers etc) and halal food

Kembara Alam @ Kuala Selangor

2 days 1 night, Sleepover/Camping activities with his teachers and classmates. They visited Pantai Remis and Bukit Melawati to learn about nature and independence 

Activity of the day: Making their own photo frame using shells they collected from the beach. A picture of Ryan and his "jerung" group with his class teacher/chaperon - Teacher Ana

Camping/picnic session in Pantai Remis

Solat Jemaah in one of the Masjid in Kuala Selangor

:) 

Collection of artwork during his weekend away : A Counting Nature Book, Windmill and photo frame

FINALLY after 1 month, I managed to complete the promised "update list". Looking forward to May 2014. I have so much plans arranged and we all know it is my favorite month being my BIRTHDAY month and all (hahaha how's that for giving out subtle hints???)  Anyway have a good week and do enjoy the upcoming Labor Day...

Wordless Wednesday #20

For hotel review and more photos of our Singapore trip in March 2014 check out the following :

• Festive Hotel, Resort World Sentosa
• Universal Studios, Singapore
• Sea Aquarium,Singapore

The Great Outdoors

Compared to our generation, kids nowadays are at a total disadvantage when it comes to the opportunity to spend their time outdoors. It is understandable due to the increasing crime rate, air pollution, parents busy timetable etc.

However I totally believe that we as parents should take some initiative to get our children bond with nature. Not only would it improve their physical, fine and gross motor skills, it could be a good time to show and teach them the wonders of Allah's gift to them (i.e. clean air, foods provided by plants and animals, how water is "created") A good way to enlightened the mind, body and soul.

Do you know playing with bubbles are not only fun but is a good way to train your child hand/eye movement coordination?

Sadly most kids nowadays don't like to get "dirty". They can get very distracted by a bit of dirt. We may think it is nothing but it does have an impact on the way your child do their daily activity. Take Ryan for example, he likes to have his things in order and not messy. You may think " are you crazy your child is a neat freak and you complaint?" :p 

As awesome as it may be to my playroom, it is not as good when he may be put in a situation where he NEEDS to get messy. Ryan has very low tolerance with slimy substances (I think most people do) but he can't expect his teachers to use UHU Stick instead of those normal and cheaper glue, I may tolerate it because I'm his mummy but he can't expect the same special treatment when he's in school/class/public. By letting him play outdoors, sometimes to the the extend of making him roll around in mud/ play with sticky flour mix or sand, it teaches him that the dirt won't hurt him, it need not distract him from his task  and InShaAllah slowly and surely this will increase his attention span because he won't be easily distracted by external factors like smell/sound/movements etc.

 Allow your child to learn from their senses. Let them touch grass/weeds/flowers and get them to explain the different textures/colors/ smell to you :)

Outdoors playgroup is much more fun than one that is held indoors. The greens does have a relaxing effect on children. The results? Less fighting. (I'm not delusional to expect 100%  no fighting , they will still fight but to a lesser degree laaa)

Teach your children to love the nature from young. Alhamdullilah Ryan is exposed to the concept of recycling in school and I slowly try to do it at home. I've also taken to getting the kids involved in my gardening activity and get them to plant some plants on their own. It's an informal science class for them but they get really excited when they see their plant slowly transform from a mere seed to little shoots to a proper tomato tree bearing fruits. Good introduction to "process"- i.e. tomato sauce does not come from the can but from a tree

 sings *Apa yang penting kerjasama :)*

Ryan and Iman planting some herbs for my herb rack

Mess and loads of it -__-

This is a lesson for the mum to practice a lot of patience and not to be easily worked out over little things...It is difficult, kan? especially with the stress of working, running the household and raising 3 kids. Back to the lesson about Sabr, I guess :p

Wish me luck and hope all of you will have a safe, happy and sun filled weekend *In Sha Allah*

One Plus One = Iman and Ranya

I think one of the thing that I've always like to stressed out is I try to raised my girls as individuals despite them being twins. As they grow, my wish kinda came true as the girls personalities is quite different. What I did not foresee is the extra work that came with having to cater to two very different individuals :p 

The easier preference like color is easily remedied. For example Ranya likes pink while Iman prefers blue and purple. They don't even like the same cereal as Iman eats Koko Krunch and Ranya only wants Honey Star. Ranya is more "princessy" out of the two preferring dresses while Iman is my little tomboy who demands for her abang old Spiderman t-shirt.

The challenge is to remember all this little details. Try giving the wrong cereal to the wrong twin on a very hectic Monday morning and you may end up with a small war in your hands. Most people can't still tell them apart and you can see that the twins is slowly getting annoyed with that. If they are in a good mood, Twin A would usually just ignore the person who's calling her Twin B but I've had instances where Iman actually growled at her father for calling her Ranya (haha padan muka)

Despite their differences and the constant fighthing (like cats and dogs these two) they're fiercely protective and dependent on each other. If one is not home, the other will ask for the other sister for every half and hour. Last Monday I was on leave since Ranya was sick and Iman was sent to kindy to minimize contact with the germs.Ranya end up asking for her sister at least 25 times within 8 hours (yes I counted) by 5.00pm she was peering at the glass door every other minute and was tugging Lan and I towards the door repeatedly chanting "jom amik tatak" :p The minute Ryan and Iman steps into the house the fighting started -__-

Ranya is the more affectionate twin. She loves cuddles and hugs. Iman not so but I still insist on giving her the same amount of hugs even when she resist because once she's in your arms she'll be giggling and bubbly. Love playing hard to get this one hehehe

Lil-Miss Iman Khadeeja

She's not very friendly with strangers and a bit of an anti social this one. She hates taking photo especially selfies (haha her father's daughter) but it is easier to play with Iman than with her siblings because she's the least bossy out of the three, very laid back and cool 8) Iman also loves climbing and water but not a fan of huge swimming pools, water slides and rides (Miss Scaredy Cat)

 Abang Ryan's right wing girl :p

Iman is also very independent. She wants to do EVERYTHING herself. It drives me nuts coz she'll take eons to finish and sometimes makes a lot of mess but I admit that it is very good for her personal development. She loves Elmo and Jake and Neverland Pirates. Not a fan of Princess cartoons and the likes of it (though she don't mind the dolls) Loves her babies and playing mummy (as in the botak-head babies) Loves singing, dancing and feeding POU (as in the hp game, no thanks to my sister's influence). She is able to speak in 5-6 word sentence at 27 months, able to recite 80% accurate doa makan and able to recognize most words in Ryan 4 year old friendly homemade dictionary.

Princess Ranya Fatimah

She loves PINK. The girly-girl, loves dresses that she can twirl in but like her sister this girl is also not a fan of princess cartoons, just Tinkerbell. Also a fan of Elmo and my little ponies. She loves reading and is very observant. She's able to recite the first 4 ayat from surah Al-Fatihah and already recognized her numbers. Loves to sing her alif,ba,ta song, negaraku (yes how patriotic anakku ini), "bapaku pulang dari kota", "itsy bitsy spider" and "are you sleeping"

Loves water and is not afraid of being dunked under a 5feet pool (time for a swimming class?) and rides especially merry go rounds. Not a fan of cats and dogs (at least not real close). She loves pretty shoes, necklaces and MY HANDBAG. Not yet Ranya, not yet... you're far too young for those :p

Ranya loves spending time with her nenek and playing with ponies and "baby". Very cheeky this one, a bit bossy and manja too (classic anak bongsu traits). Loves menyakat Iman and Ryan and I don't know how but I've seen her make her abang and kakak cry at the same time -__-

Double Developments

They both loves doodling and stalking Ryan. It drives Ryan up the wall when they follow him around but I know he secretly enjoys the attention. I have to thank Ryan for assisting in his sisters development. He widens their vocabulary skills and teaches them all the surah and doa that he learns from his tahfiz class. Thank you abang :)

 

Currently, they are really into playing "mummy".They'll feed, dress and even put their own diapers on the babies. They ended up ripping their own diapers so much that Lan and I have taken to buying the cheapest Tesco brand newborn diapers for their babies. The reason why we encourage their "mummy role play" is because it really heightened their concentration and observation skills. They can actually imitate each steps that Lan and I practiced on them on their dolls and in order (the diaper cream, balm rub, face cream, hair combing etc.

Alhamdullilah I'm so proud of my babies. They've learned so much since my last update and I can see like their brother, they have a thirst of knowledge and is very curious about learning. May it last and may they grow up to be knowledgeable, solehah and gorgeous little princesses that they're capable of being. Amin.