Darius first learnt about the moon through the book ‘Goodnight Moon’, which we introduced to him when he was less than 6 months old. However, it was only till last year’s National Day when he began to become very interested in the moon, thanks to the crescent moon symbol on our Singapore Flag. ^^

Following that, his interests in the moon were enhanced further through some of his books which had the moon in them, such as ‘WOW! Said The Owl’ by Tim Hopgood, ‘There’s no Place like Space’ by Rish Rabe and Aristides Ruiz and more recently, his new book ‘Where on Earth is the Moon?’ by Ruth Martin and Oliver Latyk.

Some of Darius' favourite books which illustrate the moon

Then just last week, when we were at the children’s section of a neighbourhood library, I came across some shelves with many fiction books and saw several books that I thought he would like, since they feature the sun, the moon and planets in our Solar System.

True enough, when I showed Darius the book on the moon, he immediately grabbed hold of it and started flipping through it, while asking me to read it with him. After we got home and Darius saw the rest of the astronomy books that I’ve borrowed for him, he kept asking Cat and I to read the books with him, which we did and much to his delight. ^^

Due to his strong interests on the topic, Darius picked up knowledge from the books about the sun, the moon and our Solar System very quickly, and was able to remember the order and names of the planets in no time.

The astronomy books we borrowed from the library

Darius could also remember the characteristics of each of the planets in our Solar System, such as Mercury being the closest planet from the sun, Earth also known as the ‘Blue Planet’ since most of it is made up of seas and oceans, Mars as the ‘Red Planet’, Jupiter being the largest planet in our system and its iconic Great Red Spot, Saturn with its famous rings and Neptune being the furthest and stormiest planet, just to name a few.

Darius was deeply immersed with the books

During one of his meal times, I searched for some Youtube videos on our Solar System and played them on our TV via the iPad. Although he was very focused while watching them, we didn’t really come across any video that was really interesting and suitable for his age.

Watching shows on the Solar System while using the books as references

The following day, he started writing the names of the eight planets on his white board on his own initiative, like what he did with words relating to Thomas & Friends recently. ^^

This learning experience with Darius further affirms our beliefs that it’s important to leverage the children’s interests and engage them in learning activities related to the theme or topic. Not only this will help grab their attention and concentration, it also allows them to pick up the new knowledge introduced to them quickly while they are enjoying the learning process.

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Beautiful scenery at Punggol Waterway

Our family of three were out shopping at NEX @ Serangoon since Saturday noon, but started feeling bored near the late afternoon. While we were deciding where we could go in the vicinity, the newly opened Punggol Waterway came to my mind. Cat was curious about the place too and seeing that it was a cooling and cloudy evening, we took the MRT along the North-East Line and reached the Punggol Station in no time.

When we arrived at the station, the town didn’t turn out to be what we had expected. Despite the large size of the station, it was void of passengers and any activity. Although we had expected Punggol to be less populated than other towns, we didn’t know it was that remote and ulu, making us feel that we were no longer in our populated country.

We came to a serene and quiet place

As I have heard from a friend late last year that the Punggol Waterway is within walking distance from the MRT station, we had planned to take a walk there. Unfortunately, the map found at the station wasn’t useful at all. In the end, it was the directions given by a friendly passer-by that helped pointed us to the right path.

Basically, we had to cross the dirt path just outside of the station, head towards a modern-looking temple, before turning right and walking along the LRT track for another 5 minutes before we could come across the entrance to the waterway.

We took this soiled path all the way to the concrete road...

...turned left and walked along the road until we came across this temple.

The journey there was an enjoyable trip for us, especially for Darius who was in a jolly mood all the way. The wonderful weather had certainly lifted up our moods as well.

Arriving at the waterway after a short walk

From the entrance, we could see the canal (aka waterway) in the middle, with people starting to arrive at the park too. We walked across the nice-looking wooden bridge to reach the other side, with Darius constantly eager to run along the way. ^^|

Not easy to hold him down without him complaining ^^|

When we reached a pavilion situated on the other side of the canal, we spotted a nice boardwalk just above the waterway. We were keen to go onto it but soon realised that it could only be reachable from the initial side of the canal, and the only way to get across was to walk back through the same bridge again. As a result, we had to backtrack all the way before we could reach our destination. Not exactly a very accessible design.

So near, yet so far...

Overall, it was a fantastic experience and we enjoyed the walk at the waterway very much. However, I need to emphasis again that the cooling weather was vital in making our trip there an enjoyable experience, since there was hardly any shade available, due to the lack of large trees at the waterway. So remember to bring along your caps, hats and/or umbrellas if you are not exactly a ‘sun’ person. ^^

Darius has learnt how to pose and smile to the camera ^^

When we reached the far end of the waterway, we came across the children’s water and sand play areas. Initially, we did consider letting Darius play at the water section but looking that he was already tired from the long walk/run and it was time for our dinner, we decided against it in the end. Also, we noticed that the water current was very strong so it might not be appropriate for him.

From our location, we could see that the waterway was continuing onto a distance away, with some buildings along the canal. However, that place appeared to be incomplete at the moment as some construction was still ongoing.

If I’ve remembered correctly, that place resembled a photograph of an artist’s impression which I had seen on the newspaper some time back, with people dining by the waterway in the eateries and others doing water sports in the waterway. Therefore, I believe that the place will be bustling with activities in the near future when it’s fully completed.

We then started walking out of the park and came across the car park. Since we didn’t see any car park from the other side where we had come from, that could be the only parking area for the waterway, at least for now. There was a LRT station just nearby but unfortunately, it was not in operation yet, most probably due to the low demand.

As a result, we had to take another long walk along the road before we could return to the road junction where the modern temple was situated. As it was dinner time, we started to look out for a place to eat.

When we looked towards the MRT station, we realised there didn’t seem to have any eatery or shop in sight, much to our surprise. We thus had to resort in asking around for help. Through a passer-by, we were told that the nearest area with shops, food court and coffee shop would be situated beneath the residential areas, some distance from the MRT station.

That place was bustling with activities and we were fortunate to have found some vacant seats in the food court to settle down. We then took a quick meal while resting our much tired feet.

Thereafter, we tried in vain searching for empty cabs along the roads, much to our surprise. The roads were pretty deserted too, by the way. We then started walking towards the MRT station, thinking that there would be taxis queuing up and waiting for passengers. Reaching there, it turned out to be deserted, with no cabs nor waiting passengers. As a result, it took us quite a while before a cab finally passed by and we could head home for a good warm bath and rest.

Anyway, Darius picked up levitation skills during the trip (just kidding~! ^^)

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On Monday, a day before school reopened for many kids, Darius came up with his own way to warm up to his school reopening day. ^^|

The incident started when Darius was having his dinner and watching some of his favourite Thomas & Friends videos. Halfway through his meal, he suddenly got up from his chair (he no longer had to sit in his high chair since a while back) and headed to the white board which we had pinned up for him.

He then picked up one of the markers on his study table and asked me to uncap for him (he doesn’t have enough strength to pull the cap off sometimes), which I did as I wondered what he was planning to do.

Darius then started writing the names and numbers of the trains (and some related words he thought of) from the Thomas & Friends series on the white board enthusiastically, likely due to a sudden urge after watching the videos.

Darius' mouth was still filled with food as he wrote on... ^^|

Initially, when he had difficulty with the correct spelling of some words, I helped him along by giving him verbal cues. Gradually, he became more confident and started spelling some of the other words by himself:

He would quickly erase what he had wrote so that he could write on a clean board again

After filling up the board and erasing what he had wrote twice, Darius was still eager to continue his writing spree.

Starting from the lower left corner and moving along the edges of the board, he started writing a long sequence of numbers, starting from 1 and all the way to 100! Meanwhile, Cat and I were watching him at the side and impressed with his patience as he write on non-stop until he had reached the final number.

After erasing the board of the numbers he wrote, Darius started writing the numbers all over once more! Following that, he went on to take out three sets of his Kumon flash cards, consisting of numbers and both the upper and lowercase letters, and proceeded to write on them on his table.

In fact, he was so focused on his writing that we had to stop him later on from getting overly tired, since it was time for him to sleep. He got upset and whined over our disruption and we promised he could continue to do his writing the following day after he had rested.

Then on the following morning, Darius immediately headed for the white board once again after he had woken up and taken his milk feed, eager  to continue from where he had left the previous night.

When I noticed he was trying to spell and write the trains’ names again, I handed him one of his Thomas & Friends books so that he could refer to its back cover, where most or all the names of the trains in the series were shown. In this way, Darius was able to find out the spellings himself without needing our help. This would thus allow him to learn more independently and to proceed at his own pace. ^^

At this juncture, I would like to share a little about our parenting style for Darius:

Cat and I seldom intrude into his freedom of choice when it comes to his learning. Instead of us coming up with a fixed schedule to make him do certain learning activities, we believe in letting him learn and experiment at his own pace and interests, with us being around to accompany and guide him along when he needs it.

What we do make sure is that the necessary tools for his learning are always easily within his reach. These include his bookshelf of books, from which he will be taking out the books he wants to read together with us. Similarly, his study table, Kumon flash cards, white board and writing materials are always available to him and he will be sitting down to do his writing or drawing by his own initiative.

As for his toys, he has unrestricted access to his Thomas & Friends trains and tracks, so he can play with them any time he wants, as long as he doesn’t go overboard with them (e.g. play past bedtime). Their spare parts and tracks are also accessible to him so that he can expand his track setup himself whenever he feels like it. Recently, with his agreement, I dismantled the entire setup which I have done for him previously, so that he could re-build his own tracks from scratch.

Darius can also play his kitchen set freely, something that we have bought for him recently after seeing his interests in it. He often plays it together with his Play-Doh set which he enjoys making into toasts, cakes (especially birthday cakes) and pizzas before serving them to us.

Cat and I also leave his iPad and iPod Touch lying around within his reach, letting him take and play with it whenever he feels the need to. Despite so, he has not taken them without first asking for our permission, and we were glad of how he has reciprocated to our trust in him.

By incorporating our freedom-based parenting style coupled with some discipline when necessary, Darius has grown to be a happy boy who can initiate activities by himself and keeping himself entertained and occupied with them as he learns. Without giving him unnecessary stress and by accompanying him in walks and outdoor trips, Darius is constantly a healthy and cheerful child, always giving us joy with his funny antics and speeches. ^^

Anyway, Darius has also become very chatty since a month ago, so much so that we had begun to doubt if he was the same quiet boy we had remembered before. Also, our worries over his slow speech development earlier have now become uncalled for, as his verbal skills grow quickly with each passing day. ^^

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