Our boy loves Maths. Every night, I ask him to complete one page of addition from his Kumon workbook.

He completed this page within five minutes, and he said, “I’m super clever!” He gave himself five stars!

I’m just glad that he loves Maths, just like ME!

Project 365: My Daily Photo Journal. Shot using my iPhone Instagram Apps.

Four years later, I have this:

Honestly, I still can’t believe that he’s already FIVE years old. Two years down the road, he will begin his formal education in Primary 1.

It didn’t seem like such a long time ago that he was an infant with just two lower middle teeth. As I watch him growing up every day, I’m continually amazed at how wonderful a person he’s becoming.

Sure he has his quirks and monkey business that frustrate me to a point of madness sometimes, but who doesn’t have them. I’m just glad that he is a great kid on the whole and I’m truly blessed to have him in my life.

I seldom write about Little Edison’s milestones these days because it’s not easy to capture the essence of his development now. It’s more mental and emotional rather than physical. Since my last update was almost a year ago, I shall try to do it today.

Anyway, this blog is supposed to document his childhood and milestones. I must remind myself not to neglect it. It’s very comforting to read these posts again in the near future, and bring back all these fond memories of him.

At the age of 4.5, he has sufficient maturity to work out how to operate something without getting too frustrated if it doesn’t work at first try. For instance, he learns how to use the TV remote control to switch channels, adjust the volume etc. He builds tower with his Lego bricks, and if it falls, he will try to build it again. His confidence improves every time he finds a solution to his problem.

School-wise, he is doing fine. I would say that he is an average student – not particularly ahead or behind of others. One key thing is that I always encourage him to be confident to speak up and ask questions, even though I observed that he tends to be shy with his teachers.

In general, he is able to use language more creatively and purposefully now. He also tries to apply the rules of grammar himself, though he doesn’t always do this correctly. Every day I have a good chat with him, and I truly enjoy talking to him.

Sometimes, I also find that his humor shows through and he makes me burst out laughing with his jokes. Just last night, he suddenly muttered “Mama, I tell you a secret! I heard ghosts!” and he came running and hid behind my back. Obviously, he doesn’t know what ghosts are, but his actions and gestures are simply too hilarious.

One thing that is unique about him is that he loves looking through photo albums and talk about the pictures, particularly events that he can remember. There is a picture of him taken when he was just born in the delivery ward, and he loves to see this picture.

When I try to explain to him on how he “came out of my tummy”, he will probe further questions like how he got out and what he was doing “in my tummy”. Yes, he is funny as that.

But one thing that rather annoys me is that he enjoys repetitive reading. He wants me to read a book to him over and over again. Most of the time, I’ll read it to him even though it’s dreadfully boring to me, but to him, it’s fascinating. I guess he just loves the familiarity of the story that is comforting to him.

So, apart from reading familiar stories to him, I gradually introduce new ones to him. At this point, he still doesn’t like reading alone because most of the books are still too complex for him to read unaided. Hopefully, he will develop his reading skills soon from his Phonics class at Jan & Elly.

My little boy is almost 5 years old now. Tell me, where has time flown?

This is our conversation this morning:

Ed: “Mama, what is chicken “pops”?

Me: “Chicken pops? I’m not sure. Are you talking about KFC chicken popcorn?”

Ed: “No, Mama! It’s the red dots all over our body.”

Me: “Oh, that is called chicken POX. Not chicken pops. “

I began to explain to him what chicken pox is. I assured him that he has taken the vaccination, and he is unlikely to get it.

Then, I began to wonder where he learn the word from. Could it be someone in his class who has been infected with chicken pox? I probed further…

Me: “Son, can you tell me who has chicken pox?”

Ed: “It’s Little Bill!”

Okay, I got it. It’s the Little Bill from Nick Jr. again. He likes to watch Little Bill, maybe because they are of the same age. And now, he talks like him too.

Little Edison speaks proper English at home; we’re avoiding Singlish as much as we can. Under the influence of Little Bill, he speaks with a little American accent too.

This in turns puzzles his teacher, who asked me whether he is of mixed heritage – simply because he doesn’t speak English like any other Chinese kids in his class.

Of course, I told the teacher that he is 100% pure Chinese!

Here is our 5 year-old Little Edison – master of all playgrounds.

Me: “No, son. Office is for adults, not for children.”

Ed: “But Little Bill also goes to his Papa’s office!”

He is referring to the cartoon character Little Bill on Nick Jr.

Me: “Errrr….” (still clueless on how to reply him)

Ed: “So, can I go to your office pleassseeeeeeeee?”

Me: “No, son. There is no place for you to sleep or play in the office.”

Ed: “But I really miss you when you go to work.”

Oh, I nearly cried!