This is ME, when I was 5 months pregnant with Little Edison. This picture was taken in May 2007 in Ginza, Japan. My biggest worry back then was knowing where to find the nearest 7-Eleven store because I was constantly hungry.
At the end of my pregnancy, I gained a massive 18kg in weight. My feet, fingers and face swell due to water retention. I walked like a penguin. I was clumsy and ugly! My tummy felt like a big watermelon – round, big and heavy.
Well, a lot has changed since then. My butt returned to a much smaller size. I gained about 3kg from my pre-pregnancy weight. I’m glad that I can wear my pre-pregnancy jeans now.
I love being a mother and watching my son learns and grows. His innocence and marvel at the simple things in life bring me joy. That love between me and him is the most precious thing that I ever had.
My life is so BEAUTIFUL with Little Edison!
P/S: This is the first time I publish picture of my pregnancy days in this blog. Hehe!
Possibly Related Posts:
- Life’s Simple Pleasure
- My Typical Weekday Schedule – 2010
- My Early Christmas Present
- My Birthday 2009
- Job Promotion
Recently, a few readers wrote to me with questions about practicing flashcards as well as making them. So, I decided to write up this post to answer everyone’s questions.
Purposes of flashcards:
Flashing the cards in a high speed activates our child’s right brain and empowers their memory ability. When we flash the picture cards, we read out the words at the same time. While the pictures are processed by the right brain, the left brain picks up the language. Both sides of the brain are connected during the process. In addition, flash cards can also increase our child’s vocabulary.
Topics for flashcards:
I focus on the basic concepts like colors, shapes, sizes, numbers, orders, time etc. Understanding these basic concepts is the most important milestone for a one year-old. In addition, I also make picture cards with the same theme such as types of flowers, occupations, food, fruits, Disney characters etc. For two year-old and above, we can add sentence structure flashcards too.
Guidelines for home practice:
I want to share with you some basic guidelines when we are practicing flashcards with our child.
- Do not repeat the same set of cards at a time.
- Start with 100 cards per session in the first month, then to an average of 250 cards per session, and then slowly move forward to 1000 cards per session.
- Have a title for each set of cards.
- Set the cards slightly higher than the child’s eye level.
- Keep each session short at about 15 minutes. Have at least one session per day.
- The ideal speed to flash a card is 0.5 second per card.
- At the end of the session, don’t forget to praise and hug our child.
Making our own flashcards:
I made lots of them. In fact, it’s very easy. Just need a little time and determination. These are the steps:
-
Prepare the slides with Microsoft Powerpoint.
-
Print the slides on A4 size paper using a color printer.
-
Next, cut the pictures in accordance to the size of the blank flashcards. I am using A5 size blank flashcards.
-
Paste the pictures onto the blank flashcards using a UHU stick. UHU stick does a better job than normal glue. No mess and no spillage.
-
Finally, write the names of the cards at the back of the flash cards. This enables us to read out the names when we flash the cards.
I’m not sure if we can print the blank flashcards directly from our printer. I doubt our home printers can accommodate such thickness.
Where to buy white blank flashcards:
- Hiap Moh – cheapest of all, but higher MOQ
- Popular
- Shichida Tensai shop
- My Little Ones
Ideally, the card thickness should be between 310-350gsm. At least one side of the card is glossy. You can also buy protective sheets – a clear transparent plastic film to protect your flashcards from getting dirty. These protective sheets are usually reusable.
In addition to flashcards, I also read a variety of books with my son. Recently, we started watching educational DVDs over the weekend. I’m confident that my hard works and determination will pay off one day. I’m happy to see good progress in my son day by day.
If you are already practicing flashcards with your child, continue with the good work and do not give up! I wish all of you success!
Note: All information provided is to the best of my knowledge and personal experience.
Possibly Related Posts:
- DIY Flashcards #24: Things in the Bathroom
- DIY Flashcards #23: Things in the Kitchen
- DIY Flashcards #22: Odd and Even Numbers
- DIY Flashcards #21: Animal Sounds
- Photographic Memory Games (Part 6)
This is certainly the most expensive car I’ve bought to-date. Little Edison is extremely delighted to see it. We’ll go for a spin at East Coast this weekend.
It’s also one of my husband’s favorite cars – the Subaru Impreza. This is the brother of Subaru Impreza WRX, it is called Impreza WRC. Cool!
Available at Carrefour from $39.90.
Possibly Related Posts:
I think everyone of us has certain toys that we cherished when we were young. Now, think back – imagine being a child again. What were your favorite toys? I still remember some of mine. I enjoyed playing paper dolls, which are figures cut out of paper, with separate clothes held onto the dolls by folding the tabs.
I designed the clothes for my paper dolls. I drew them on paper, colored them and cut them out. I fancy being a fashion designer when I was young. I felt that fashion designer is a very cool profession, but I doubt I can make much money from it. So at the end, I did not make it to fashion design.
Besides paper dolls, my siblings and I had a substantial LEGO collection when we were young. We built houses, schools and towns with our LEGO sets. The three of us can spend hours playing with our LEGO set in our room. I believe my mother must be truly amazed by our talents. We are born engineers and architects.
In general, I’m a huge fan of toys. Toys are a reminder of the best part of my childhood. Everyone learn and grow up by playing toys. Whenever I make my way to the toy section in a department store, there is a huge grin on my face. Most of the time, I couldn’t resist buying new toys for my Little Edison.
Now, I’m going to write down the top five toys that Little Edison has enjoyed for the past one year.
1. Any kinds of vehicles - car, train, bus, truck, helicopter, fire engine etc
These are his absolute favorites! In total, he has more than 20 of them. He will play on the table or on the sofa. He likes to park them in vertical or parallel behind the parking sign. And he has the traffic lights too!
2. Balls
From football to basketball, and now golf, he loves to play with balls. We like to play mini-catching game with him, and he enjoys it. Our latest addition is the golf set. Each of us takes a golf club and chase after the golf ball – we play it like a hockey game. So much fun.
3. Ride-On
He has a Fisher-Price Little People ride-on car at home. He enjoys pressing the buttons to watch lights flash, hear engine sounds of vehicles revving and whimsical music playing. He treasures this car a lot, we see him cleaning it with wet tissue whenever it gets dusty.
4. Play-dough
We have a mini kitchen set at home where we make play-dough for our cooking. We also make alphabets and numbers with the dough.
5. Electronic Keyboard
We bought a Bruin electronic keyboard as his second birthday present. My music lover son enjoys playing with this toy. He dances with the built-in music and he sings with the microphone too.
Little Edison is usually careful in playing with his toys. He never breaks his toys or throws them on the floor. In addition, he has a very good habit of keeping his toys after playing. It’s something that I really admire in him!
-
Are there any toys that can give you fond memories of your childhood?
Possibly Related Posts:
- Late Night Musings of a Mother
- Real Mom’s Secret (Part 3)
- Real Mom’s Secret (Part 2)
- Real Mom’s Secret (Part 1)
- 12 Simple Secrets Real Moms Know
My file hosting website, Ripway, has been down for almost a week. I sent them numerous e-mails to report the problem, but to no avail. I still have not heard from them. I even paid USD5/month to upgrade my free account to a paid account with unlimited bandwidth so that all my readers can download files here without any problem.
Arghh, I hope that they can restore all my files and get back in service as soon as possible.
This weekend, I made a set of flashcards on things in our kitchen.
Title: Things in the Kitchen
Contents:
1. Frying Pan
2. Pot
3. Toaster
4. Apron
5. Bowl and Spoon
6. Plate
7. Cup
8. Glass
9. Measuring Spoons
10. Cookie Cutter
11. Strainer
12. Spoon
13. Fork
14. Chopsticks
15. Dustbin
As Ripway is still down, I’ll send out this copy to you via e-mail. If you are interested to get a copy, please join my mailing list by entering your e-mail address and clicking on the “Subscribe” button at the bottom sidebar of my blog.
Don’t worry; I won’t spam your mailbox. In future, if you wish to be removed from my mailing list, just drop me an e-mail and I’ll do so as soon as I can.
[4 Nov 09] New update: Download is now available HERE.
Possibly Related Posts:
- DIY Flashcards #24: Things in the Bathroom
- Flashcard FAQs
- DIY Flashcards #22: Odd and Even Numbers
- DIY Flashcards #21: Animal Sounds
- Photographic Memory Games (Part 6)
Recent Comments …