Colourful Capsicums

Capsicums and more capsicums! I think this was the first time I bought so many capsicums at one time. All because my son loves them and the department store was offering five different colours. How could I not get them all? So, I ended up buying ten capsicums, two of each colours. 

Of course, JS was thrilled to see so many colourful capsicums and started taking them out from the plastic bags. Besides admiring the vibrant colours, we did some counting with them. 

Then, we cooked them! Or rather, JS, had his first experience cooking capsicum on his own. We (my hubby and I) do not really like the way capsicum is being cooked in Chinese dishes, especially when added in mixed vegetables. It was not something my husband would happily eat until I accidentally discovered the super simple  yet delicious way of preparing this very nutritious vegetable. 

One day, some years ago, I was pan frying salmon and after that, I did not want to waste all the "good" oil that remained in the pan after frying the fish so I just used it to stir fry some capsicums. Surprisingly, it turned out really good and sweet. 

We did not have pan fried salmon on that day when I bought the capsicums but of course, we could still have stir fry capsicums. It is JS' favourite so he happily learnt how to prepare it. 

I helped him to half the capsicums so he could remove the seeds (which he gathered in a small container because we wanted to try planting it in our garden). 

Next, he cut them lengthwise and sprinkled some salt. 

Then, I helped him to pour some cooking oil into the wok and he could do the rest. When the oil was heated, he put in the strips of colourful vegetables and stir fry them on medium to high fire. 

The dish doesn't look very good here, due to poor photography skill. It's taken using my iPhone and the lighting was poor too because we use amber lights at home. Nevertheless, JS was very satisfied with his cooking that he almost ate everything up! 

Colour Play

Markers have been my top choice of art supply for a toddler's first experiments with colours. I like their vibrant colours that will definitely attract young explorers, not to mention that they are less messy compared to other choices. 

As pictures speak louder than words, I love to use them to depict the learning process of my children. 

Here are some of the pictures of JE exploring her new set of "toy".

She tries different ways to grip the markers.

She learns to open and close the cover of the marker. 

And when she got tired of scribbling with them, we played a little game with the colourful sticks. 

JE looking at the markers and decides which one she wants to  knock  down and...

it's the yellow one!

Helping With Household Chores

We have been very busy lately and I am finding it harder and harder to update this blog regularly. With JE joining in most of the activities, it takes a longer time to finish a project or chore, but we are having lots of fun. JS has been able to help with a lot more chores than before. He seems to enjoy them, feeling like he is working like an adult. However, he is still a kid so he sometimes would back out if he finds it too difficult but with some encouragement, he is able to give the more challenging tasks a try again. Once he is able to complete it, he has this sense of pride in him that I could see in his smile. The smile that says "I can do it, all by myself. I feel like a grown up!"

Here are some of the household chores that JS has been helping with lately. 

1. Laundry

2. In The Kitchen

Cooking

Peeling off the shell of the prawn

Doing the dishes

3. In the garden

Clearing out an old trunk

JE wanted to join in too. She put on a glove given to her by JS and tried to open a garbage bag.

Cleaning the windows.

I try not to ask him to do the tasks unless he offers to help and would allow him to dismiss himself from the task if he doesn't feel like doing it anymore. He is still a kid and if he wants to help, I'll be more than grateful but if he doesn't, it should be totally fine. I find that this bears more positive results in the long run rather than giving him a list of tasks that he has to do on a regular basis. 

As of now, JS is most keen in helping out in the kitchen and has offered to do the dishes several times. He loves to help with preparing meals too which make the cooking time much longer, but it is much more fun doing it with him rather than doing it on my own. 

Mommy, What Is Liquid?

JS was doing his English homework yesterday and since he was absent from school for the particular assignment, he needed some guidance with the work. He has the habit of asking the meaning of the words that he has to write and there was one particular word that sparked his interest. The word liquid. To give him a clearer understanding of liquid, we went online to search for meaning of the word and looked at pictures of things that are in the form of liquid. 

JS studying the pictures to get a clearer idea of what liquid is.

Then we had a little game of liquid hunting around the house. 

Here are some of the items he found. 

Mongo Plant Versus Garlic Plant

Two weeks ago, JS was into growing plants and asked if he could grow some flowers. We did not have any flower seeds at home and I suggested that he plant some mongo seeds instead. Yes, for those who are following our blog, we have done this on cotton about a year and a half ago and now, we are doing it in soil and in a proper flower pot. The other reason I told him to grow mongo seeds is that they grow very fast and kids are not very patient at waiting for results. 

So everyday, as we leave the house for school (JS is attending Kindergarten 1 now) JS would look at the plants and say, "Mommy! They are growing!"

A few days after we planted the mongo seeds, I suggested that we plant some garlic. This time, unlike the mongo seeds that showed some growth immediately on the following day, the garlics showed none. 

Two days after we planted the garlics, we went on a short vacation and when we returned, JS saw some changes to the garlic plant and shouted, "Mommy, look! The garlics are growing!"

Now, after half a month, we found some time to do some detailed observations on the plants. We compared the roots and the leaves. The garlic plant showed a lot of roots while the mongo plant has very little and the garlic plant has long leaves while the mongo plant has small leaves. 

Doing It On My Own

One of JE's latest addiction is walking in her first pair of shoes. Besides her own, she also likes to walk in her brother's. 

One afternoon a few days ago, she spent about an hour trying to put on the shoes, walking in them and taking them off. 

It was good practical life skills practice for her and most importantly, she had so much fun. 

Here are some of the pictures of her trying to put on her shoes in different positions. 

Then she decided to try on her brother's shoes. 

I finally got it right!

This is nothing new, nothing special, nothing extraordinary. It is just a phase every child goes through but I love watching how she does it on her own - her struggles, her determination, the smile on her face when she finally did it. Basically, I love to observe how she works on her own because it tells me so much about her personality. It is the best way to get to know her. 

Snail Mail Follow-Up Activity

JS has been sending and receiving some mails since the first postcard he sent to himself last November. Soon after he received his first postcard, his grandparents sent him a Christmas card. He was elated! After that, he started to expect "special deliveries" for him whenever the postman comes. 

In an effort to let him continue sending and receiving mails, I signed him up for an International Homeschool Postcard Swap. It is a group I found on Facebook which was shared by Homeschooling Hub Malaysia not long ago. 

The main reason I wanted him to pursue this activity was because I want him to learn the important of knowing how to read and write. He is starting to learn to write but more than often, he preferred to invent his own language. I saw the need for him to learn about the relationship between written words and verbal communication and I am sure this activity would do him good. 

Back to the postcard swap, as the name suggest, we were supposed to mail postcards to designated children in a particular group. However, we had difficulties finding postcards near our neighbourhood and thus, decided to send them Chinese New Year cards instead. Anyway, it was still something special we could share with the pen pals. 

We printed out their names and addresses and JS chose the cards that he wanted to send to each of them. He could not really write yet so I helped him by holding his hand. We discussed a little on what to tell his pen pals and I helped him with the sentences. 

Then he put the cards in the envelopes and we wrote the names and addresses on. 

A few days later, we went to the post office to send them off.

About two weeks later...

JS' facial expression tells it all. He was so excited about receiving the postcards from Utah and Texas, USA. He kept on talking about them and told his Daddy about his "special deliveries" from USA as soon as he arrived home from work. 

And I hope our recipients would receive our cards soon. 

Homeschooling While On Vacation 2 - JS' First Bus Ride

We are almost half a month into the year 2015 but I hope it is not too late to wish all my readers a blessed year ahead. I have to admit that I have been a little lazy to update my blog as I wanted to spend as much time as possible with my children, especially JS who will be turning five this June and thus, is attending school, full time since Monday. Now, JE gets full attention from Mommy in the mornings and we are doing lots of motor skills activities. 

Although JS will spend his weekday mornings in school, I am still planning to continue with our projects in the afternoons at least once or twice a week. As for now, we would be doing a lot of projects related to Chinese New Year since it is a big celebration here for the Chinese and one of the occasions that we celebrate. We did our first project recently but I will not share it here on this post because I would like to share with you another very memorable experience that JS had during our vacation in November last year. We went to Port Dickson, a small town by the beach, where JS' grandfather lives. 

JS taking picture at the Port Dickson Bus Terminal before taking his first ride. 

I have been a bit reluctant to share this  experience here mainly because the pictures were quiet bad but then the experience was a really great one for JS, so here it is, his first ride on a public bus. "The Wheels On The Bus" is one of the first songs JS learnt to sing but he had never been on one so I thought he would enjoy a short ride on an afternoon where we did not have much to do. 

The bus terminal happened to be just a minute's walk from his grandfather's place so it was no hassle getting there. 

We chatted with a lady who was also waiting for the same bus to find out whether the bus was coming soon. (There is only one bus per hour and it could be a long wait) We waited for about 15 minutes and when the bus arrived, JS got really excited and had to be reminded to queue up. After getting my ticket from the driver (it is a free ride for JS), we got ourselves the seats nearest to the centre exit. 

First, JS discovered the curtain blinds and started playing with it a bit. He loved the fact that he could have a better view from a bus which is higher compared to when he was in a car. 

I decided to take him to somewhere near and we ended up going to a small shopping mall a few kilometers away from the terminal. 

JS was happy to find an indoor playground there.

We spent around 30 minutes there before walking to the nearest bus stop to catch a bus home. However, it was quiet a long wait. JS' father called to find out where we were and offered to come to fetch us. At first, we were quiet persistent and said that we would wait for the bus but after waiting for another 20 minutes, we were still sitting at the bus stop, waiting for a bus so when Daddy called again, JS decided that Daddy should come. 

And so, although we did not do a round trip, it was nevertheless a priceless memory for a 4-year-old who has only travelled on cars all his life.