Kieran at 2 years old

Kieran is really smart. I love the baby Kieran because he's such a cutie pie. Chubby and with large imploring eyes. I love the toddler Kieran because he's extremely smart, and witty, and a lot of fun! I enjoy learning with him, cheering for him as he learns, and growing up with him!

Here's some of what we did together and the funny stuff he said since 1 Jan 2014:

13 Jan 2014 (Monday): Daddy was telling Kieran people need to eat to have energy, & asked him what do cars need to drink to have energy? He said "cars need to drink Transformers' milk milk." I imagine a Transformer breastfeeding her baby car... Things a breastfed child say!

10 Jan 2014 (Friday): 允轩：阿嬷去哪里？
我：阿嬷去外面丢垃圾。可以把允轩丢掉吗？
允轩：我不是垃圾。
哈哈！
Translation: Kieran asked where is Ah mah (Grandma) going to? I replied that she's going outside to throw the rubbish. And asked him whether we can throw him away too. Kieran replied "I'm not rubbish." (In a really innocent and matter of fact way) Haha!

8 Jan 2014 (Wed): I was putting Kieran to bed so I told him to close his eyes and sleep. He said no! And I asked him "Are you a goldfish? Goldfish don't close their eyes when they sleep."
He said, "no, I'm a shark! Does sharks close their eyes?"
That baffled me. I never knew... So do sharks close their eyes? Do they have eyelids?
PS: I googled and found that Sharks have eyelids but they do not close their eyes, contrary to goldfish who do not have eyelids and therefore, cannot close their eyes.

Kieran at Playground. He enjoyed himself so much!

Eating his own meals on his new Mother's corn plate. I found that this is the best plate I can find as the individual "bowls" are deep enough to put porridge, soup and other dishes. It's not easy for him to scoop up food if the plate is shallow.

Kieran learns how to hold the pencil by himself. He explored different ways of holding it and ended up in the position which he find easy to use. Clever! I didn't want to teach him to hold a pencil because it may create unnecessary stress which can stifle creativity and remove the joy of exploring and learning something by himself. Two years old is the age when toddlers like to do everything themselves. So just let them! There'll be mess, lots of time and effort required to clean up, lots of guidance and patience, and some small accidents and spills, but who cares as long as they enjoy the process and have fun learning and exploring!

Painting lesson 1: His first time painting with brushes. He loves it a lot!

Painting lesson 2: Today we went out to collect leaves (I also taught him not to pluck leaves as and when he wants. We only pluck them when we absolutely require to do so for lessons. Respect Nature.) and use the leaves to do prints with paints. I also brought him to buy lotus stem and cut it for prints. This is the first time he sees a lotus stem.

Early childhood is the time to be happy, play, to learn through play and exploring the natural surroundings, and most importantly, with the child's favourite person - mummy!

I read the book [病是教養出來的] written by a traditional Chinese medical doctor who is also a Waldorf [華德福] doctor in a Waldorf school in Taiwan, that children has to have enough play in childhood [孩子一定要玩夠]. Indeed, this is the time when they play to their fill, then sleep to the max, then eat till they are happy, and then play again. Why make them grow up too quickly? Why make them learn academic skills and their ABCs? If they are smart, if they are geniuses, they don't need special brain stimulation any more than a normal person. Play - that is the right of a child.