Reading and such

I found this picture of Harvynna messing with the cards when she was 9 months
She was one chubby baby!

As I am into the 'Teach Harvynna to read' mood, I have been reading up on some activities related to it. I purchase the Glenn doman Reading Flash cards when Harvynna was born. I used it with her, but stopped when I was pregnant with Rowena (too lazy). I was also not very consistent. I cant say that it helped her to read, but it did make her more alert and responsive. I really admire those mothers that have used the cards consistently.

She does not really like those cards now (neither do I as it is to bulky). Only If I attempt to show Rowena the cards, then she will pretend to be interested so that she wont be left out!!

Anyway, I found various other ways to use the cards, which is more fun. MPH also carries a good selection of flashcards and are quite cute and attractive. Actually, there’s a lot that can be done with flash cards besides just flashing them to learn through repetition.

Some of the activities that can be done with flash cards:

Memory games

Place flash cards in a circle on the floor
Let Harvynna view it for a minute or 2 (to memorise it)
Get her to recall as many pictures she has seen

I have done various other memory games with Harvynna by using simple things around the house, or toys that she has. Her toy box is full of odds and ends like colourful blocks and her cooking sets and she loves it especially when she gets it right.

Race to the flashcards

Stick flashcards at various places in the house
Get Harvynna to go to the word e.g. find the word ‘red’
To make it more fun, give fun instructions like ‘hop to the ‘car’

Bring me

Arrange 4-5 cards on the floor (can be more for an older child) Call out to bring certain cards e.g. bring mummy the ‘tiger’

I hope Rowena gets some 'secondary' benefit from this, if she is not too busy chewing the cards!

Gymboree for the girls

I finally found something for both my girls to do – Gymboree! After months of searching, hunting, asking, I decided to enroll them to Gymboree at Bangsar Village. I could not find anything suitable on weekday evenings, most activities were either during the day or over the weekend.

There are many options for Harvynna, after all she is 3 years old and there are so many things she can go for e.g. drama classes, music, tae-kwan-do etc. But what I liked about the Gymboree was that they have sibling programmes, so while Harvynna attends the 2 hour drop off sessions, Rowena gets to do the Level 3 programme with me. So I get to kill 2 birds with one stone.

The family package is quite expensive – there’s a big hole in my pocket now and I would say that their rates are higher than other programmes out there, but I like the convenience of it. Plus, when I took the girls for their trial sessions on Saturday, they absolutely enjoyed it. Rowena was walking around clapping her hands and participated really well. I was quite surprised as she is normally the quiet one who observes things from far.

Harvynna was also very excited as I told her waaayyy in advanced that she will be going to a big girl class, so mummy will not be there. And to my delight, she was very happy to be dropped off and did not cry at all when I left her. This looks like a good prep for her to attend kindergarten later. Well-done Harvynna. Harvynna attended the Level 7 (for 3-5 years) and the art class after that.

Since, I do not send Harvynna to a pre-school, I think this is a good alternative. Some sort of stimulation is important for a child. I think 4 years of attending pre-school Monday to Friday is a bit too much. By the time, she attends actual school, she will be fed up of the routine. (That’s my personal opinion, anyway) She’s also lucky as there are other kids at the babysitter’s so she gets to play and socialize there. I am very afraid of those pre-schools that are very academic oriented and even have tests for the kids.

PPP - Effective Advertising

Having worked in the media industry for more than 5 years has made me rethink on the effectiveness of advertising in mainstream media. With more and more advertising alternatives available including postcards, cinema and of course internet advertising, advertisers will really need to rethink the channel they need to choose in placing their ads. They will need to compete with other advertisers in that small amount of space.

The new craze of blog advertising has proven to be very rewarding. In a recent study by Payperpost, it showed that that not only do people click on sponsored posts, on average they click through at a higher rate than any other media with a 10.545% average ctr to be exact.This result is amazing as it is known that some advertisers were initially quite skeptical in blog advertising. This goes to show that blog readers actually click through on sponsored posts. I personally have clicked on this, as articles written on blogs are very well written and interesting that it actually attracts me to click through the posts.

Payperpost should definitely be on every advertisers’ media plan as its results are just amazing. You are able to reach people from all over the world with just a click of the button and your product gets to be advertised in various creative ways.

How do children learn to read?

I recently bought the Ladybird Key words reading scheme books for Harvynna. As I was looking at it, I was wandering how children really learn to read. I know most kindergartens use Phonics nowadays and it is quite effective as they will also learn the right pronounciation.

I have been reading to Harvynna since she was very young and I realise that she memorizes the lines from the books. After reading a book a couple of times, she can actually 'read' the story. Somehow, I think either, she has memorised the story or linked the words to the pictures in the book.

The ladybird key words may actually get children to learn by sight the words as they emphasise on the frequently used words in the English Language. So, the more they are exposed to the words, the more they will know it. This is similar to using flahscards. But with flashcards, there are no distractions from pictures

I actually learnt to read using this method.

I will try to slowly introduce Harvynna to this method and see how she takes to it.

My baby is back

We fetched Harvynna from my parents place during the weekend. She was so excited to see us, flashing her pretty smile to us. Rowena, on the other hand did not seem to pleased. She actually looked upset when she saw Harvynna. She probably thought, 'there goes my attention and freedom'. It was quite funny actually as Harvynna was very happy to see her sister and kept carrying her and holding her hand.

Now, we are back to our routine and I no longer have a quiet drive everyday as she will be there asking her usual 101 questions. She seems more matured now (probably because I have not seen her for 3 weeks)

Find your soulmate online

This is a sponsored post

If you are into interracial dating, why not go online to find that special someone. This site offers thousands of single that are into interracial romance as well. There are also chats, forums and many other great features to help you find that someone special you have been dreaming off all this while.

All you have to do is just sign up online and you will have access to a wide range of profiles. You will be able to describe what you are looking for in a partner in your profile which in turn, will enable you to attract your soul mate. This is a great site as you will be able to meet likeminded people like you.

Just me and my gal

Since hubs was working on saturday, I took decided to take Rowena out. I havent really done that as Harvynna was around and was less adventurous since. I used to take Harvynna out alone and still do.

It was not too bad - we left the house a little after 10 and decided to go to Mid Valley since Mothercare was having a sale. It was quite good with discounts up to 50%. I bought the girls a few dresses since I just love Mothercare and their quality is good. But thanks to Rowena, I could not really shop much as she kept running outside the store - so I had one eye on her and one eye on the clothes. That's one of the reasons I dont like going to Mid Valley - fear of psychopaths lurking around as they place is just too huge. Luckily, the salesgirls there took some toys off the shelve and let Rowena play with them.

After that we just walked around and I realise that Rowena has become a real toddler. She will not sit in the stroller for long, after a while she will start fidgeting and arching her back (all the tantrum signs) and I have to let her out where she will RUN, and I mean really RUN. So that was the end of the shopping episode.

Later, we went to the play area at Jusco and she played on some of the rides including the carousal (mini one). She really had fun there.

Finally, I got tired and we had a bite at Dunkin Donuts where the grand finale was Rowena squashing the chocolate donut in her hand and all over her face. That was the sign that said, its time to go!!