And they're here!

Today you got your proofs back for the pictures you took on your school picture day. You always squint your eyes when you're smiling :-S

But I think this was better than how your daycare pictures turned out. See here.

It's amazing how quickly you are learning at junior Kindergarten even though you are only part time. I put stickers on all the words you know so far.

We've been reading every night to get you comfortable with words. 

Daycare class photo 2013

You got your daycare class photo today. Can you spot yourself?

Front row- you're one of the smallest in your class :-(

And the boy who you always talk about- Mateo.

You also had a new sheet in your 'Chimes and Chants' folder. I guess your J/K teacher was trying to teach you guys about peace since Remembrance Day was coming up. She wrote down what all the students said and I was so impressed with what you had to say. I thought it was the best answer! Hopefully, you can be a peacemaker instead of being an absolute terror that you can be sometimes :-S

First day of hip hop dance class

Knowing how much you love to dance and perform, I couldn't resist signing you up for hip hop dance class. Daddy wasn't too keen as he would rather have you in hockey, soccer or any other sports activities. However, it is apparent to me that you don't really have a penchant for sports and you seem to lean more towards the arts field. 

The first class was good. I know you are always a little weary when it comes to new environments, but you didn't cry and you actually went into the class without a hitch. I thought that parents would be allowed in to observe, but we weren't. I guess it's a good thing because sometimes parents can be a distraction…

Now that you have started Kindergarten, I am teaching you new words. Your teacher has put together a communications folder in your backpack and it has a few beginner words for you to learn. Already you have learned quite a few. It's great because now I'm making you read these words while we read our bedtime stories together at night.

Some of the words that you know. I used an invisible marker that I got you to colour to
reveal the secret words. You loved that.

Bravo!

You came home from daycare yesterday with a certificate of excellence in French. I know you can speak a little bit of French because I've heard you counting to 10 in French and sing Frère Jacques. I don't know if your teachers gave it out to everyone in your class, but according to you, only you and one other kid got it in your class. So, well done Aidan!

As soon as you got home you wanted me to hang it on your wall, but I didn't get a chance to until today. I decided to hang it on your closet door so that you can still see it when you open your closet, but it's not on your room wall. Maybe I'll hang a bulletin board for you one day, but I don't want your wall to be cluttered with stuff.

Preparing for kindergarten

Last night I went to your kindergarten orientation session at your new school that you start in September. It was very informative and I got to meet some of your new teachers. They also talked about how we, as parents, can prepare our kids for kindergarten. They gave each parent a bag with alphabet magnets, scissors, glue, books, crayons and other activity things that we should work with our child. 

This morning you noticed the bag and wanted to open it. I took you downstairs and got you to work on a few activities that the teachers had suggested- cutting straight lines on the edge of a paper with the scissors; using a cookie sheet and placing the alphabet paper and getting you to match the alphabet magnets to the letters (BTW, you already knew the uppercase letters and lowercase letters long time ago); matching up numbers in the same way as the letters exercise; and building letters with shapes. 

So happy with his completed work.

Kendall, meanwhile, is practicing learning to use her pincer fingers to put Cheerios in her mouth.

She's finally starting to get it. 

Advent Calendar: Get a lollipop

You're not like normal kids. You don't love candy and chocolates. Well, I think you like chocolates, but it's not enough for you to ask me for it. You'll have a bite and be done with it. That's why I wasn't sure if you would like today's box. I bought a pack of popping lollipops. You know, the one where you dip the lollipop in rock candy and it pops in your mouth? I let you choose between 4 flavours.

Hugging the column. My sweet boy.

Always so excited to open the boxes.

You chose the strawberry flavour.

The lollipop was shaped like a thumbs-up hand so you loved that. You actually pulled out the
lollipop from its stick and finished it. I was surprised. You also had some of the rock candy.

Afterwards we went down to play in the basement. I've been trying to teach you Korean little by little. Your Vancouver grandparents bought you several Korean study books as well as flash cards with Korean words so I've been doing that whenever I can. I'm thinking of enrolling you Korean class soon. You had a bit of trouble learning to count to 10 in Korean- you always forgot what was after '6' and almost always forgot '8', but now you know it by heart. Daycare's also been teaching you French. I noticed one day that you were counting to 10 in French which surprised me.

Tummy time

You are starting to be more alert during the day for longer periods of time. Whereas before, you would sleep almost all day you are now pretty awake for most of the day after 11am. That is good news and bad news for mommy because although that makes it a whole lot easier at night when you are supposed to sleep it makes it hard during the day because I can't do anything. As soon as I put you down you start crying and wanting to be held. Today I too the opportunity to take some shots of you posing for the camera and even took a video of you doing tummy time.

Look at those cute hands…

…And those scrumptious feet.

You trying to do tummy time. Your head is not so bobble head-like as when you were first
born, but you are barely able to lift your head up.

Studious boy

You have a whole stack of activity books that your Vancouver grandparents bought you from Korea. I decided to take them out and get you to start working on them. You were excellent at counting and matching shapes, but what you have to work on is holding the crayons and colouring. I don't think you are confident in using the crayon on your own, even though you bring him lots of crafts from daycare with your scribbles on it. I think in this way you are like your mom. You have such a ggom ggom han (Korean word for being neat) personality that you want everything to be perfect. I had to hold your own while holding the crayon so that I could colour the shapes perfectly.

Aidan's birthday gift from Vancouver

I got a package in the mail today. It was from Auntie Jane and your Vancouver grandparents. I didn't want to open it until you got home from daycare because I wanted to take pictures of you opening your gift. 

When you got home you noticed the box right away and said, "Mommy, what dis? Can I open?" I took you upstairs and took pictures of you opening your gift in your room. You were pretty excited.

Inside were the LeapFrog Tag Learn And Love To Read Set. I'm so stoked to have this as it's always gotten such good reviews. You love to read so I think you'll really enjoy this. You are so lucky that you have such great aunts and grandparents.

Finally the box is open! What could possibly be inside?

The LeapFrog Tag set came with a portable carrying case to store all the books.

The set came with 13 books in total.

Here is the storage case.

Each book set came with 6 books and 1 bonus book.

This box had the Tag Reader pen. Basically the pen reads the books when you touch the words and icons.
It teaches kids to read and to learn their vowels and how to spell. It's pretty neat.

DIY reward chart

I've been thinking about making a reward chart for you for a while now. The idea came to me when we were thinking of ways in how you can potty train in a positive way. I thought a chart that you can fill up with stickers would be something that you would enjoy filling and it would encourage you to act positively. It's especially important now since you are at a terrible 2 stage. I bought a few things at the dollar store yesterday and got working on it today.

I bought several sheets of foam in different colours. I then punched 1" punches in a contrasting colour and stuck
it on the foam sheet. Each round punch is for a sticker. This one is for the potty reward chart.

I bought these sheets of foam letters at the dollar store that I used to label each reward chart.

I bought a box of stickers that you would enjoy- things with cars, airplanes and happy faces that I'm going to be
using as the stickers for the reward charts.

Here's one I made for sleep. I basically made reward charts for things you have a hard time doing. One being
sleeping. I thought creating a chart for you to go to bed without throwing a fit would be something good for you
to have. 

I stuck the chart in your room by your bed. Before bedtime I ask you, "Aidan, do you want a sleep sticker?" You
always say yes. I then explain to you that you can only get it if you go to bed after you stick the sticker on the
chart. And it works like a charm!

I made a potty chart for the washroom. This one is right by your potty.

I'm hoping this will encourage you to go potty so that you can get a reward sticker.

Lastly I made one for your play room. This one is for tidying up. You can see here that you already
got a sticker for doing that.

The chart is hanging right by your kitchen set. It really helps to keep things orderly in your play room.