Mummy & Baby Moon

Dear All My Relatives and Friends,

Here’s wishing this New Year brings You
Lots of Luck..
Wealth in Abundance..
Never Ending Hapiness..
And Plenty of Smiles..
To last Forever..

Gong Xi Fatt Choy!
Happy Chinese New Year!

P/S: BabyMoon’s grandpa “complaints” that why no update for their blog.. Opps.. too busy and will try to update when free.. haa..

Time flies! Wow.. Is the end of Jan 2010! Here are some quick sharing of Baby Moon’s photos.

Shopping during Christmas season..

Tea Break~

Photo taking with aunty~ yeah~~

Baby Jun Hui is 4 mths old now~

Junling and Baby Junhui...

Feel fresh after the shower~

Mummy Moon and Junling~ hehe..

My Little Princess - Jun Ling

Mummy Moon is so busy with her home business – The Million Dollar Mom!

Click here to find out more about Mummy Moon’s home business

Are you a career-oriented woman who also happens to be a parent?  If you are, you may be dealing with a number of different issues. Many women, just like yourself, find it somewhat difficult to balance having a career and a family.  While it is more than possible to do both, it can be overwhelming at times.

One of the many issues surrounding working mothers is that they do not know how to balance their time. Mothers who need to work or finish an upcoming project often do so, but they occasionally feel guilty about missing out on quality time with their children or their romantic partner.  It can also be the other way around, as well.  Many working mothers are afraid to, essentially, put their family first in certain situations, in fear of losing their jobs.  If these are issues that you have dealt with or if they are issues that you are currently dealing with now, you will want to continue reading on.

One of the many ways that you can go about balancing a family and a career is by setting aside time for both your family and your important career.  For instance, if at all possible, you will want to try and establish hours just for work or work related tasks.  If you have to work overtime, it is advised that you do so, especially if your job may be at risk.  That is often what is difficult for many mothers, when relying on their income, it can be fearful to put work second.  With that in mind, it is important that you leave work at work.  This gives you the opportunity to put your family first, especially when you are at home with them.

As with having set hours for work, it is also advised that you create a schedule for your family time as well. While your days don’t have to be planned out hour by hour, it is nice to at least develop a little schedule. This schedule could include days of the week when you may want to take a trip to the zoo with you children or days that you may want to spend visiting family.  By having your plans already made and in place, you are more likely to follow through with them.  Your family, including your children and your partner, will likely be pleased with this follow through.

Although raising a family is often associated with spending time with your children, that is not all that motherhood is about.  For that reason, you likely have a full plate.  That plate may include grocery shopping, the preparation of family meals, as well as house cleaning. To reduce the stress associated with many of these tasks, as well as give you more quality time to spend with you family, you may want to consider hiring assistance. Whether you choose to hire a professional housekeeper or a landscaper to mow your yard for you, this extra time may come in handy.

The above mentioned points are just a few of the many ways that you can go about balancing a career and a family. Although it may seem impossible to do right now, especially if you just recently got a new job or had your first child, it is more than possible for you have a great career, as well as happy and healthy family life at home.

Creative Art Corner. Spend quality time with gal gal Junling~~

Time flies. Newborn Baby Moon – Jun Hui is 2 months old and 28th Nov is Jun Ling’s birthday too. Hmm.. No birthday cake because we don’t have birthday cake celebration with her. Both of them are sick.. too bad!

Here are some photos of them.

JunHui is sleeping with her pinky doll.. Zzzz...

Jun Ling sayang Jun Hui..

Jun Ling wanna plays with baby sister

Baby Jun Hui is thinking~~

Uncle covers baby with pillows.. haa.. Jun Hui so happy~~

Junling enjoys the art time~

Finally, some photos sharing of my newborn – Little Baby Moon Jun Hui.

Hihi.. I'm Jun Hui, the little Baby Moon...

Jie Jie (Elder Sis) sayang Mei Mei (Younger Sis)~~

Cutie~~

Jie Jie (Elder Sis) bottle feed the baby

I sleep most of the time.. Zzzz...

I'm awake for milk~~ I want milk~~

Little Baby Moon sleeps most of the time, so most of her photos show her sleeping face.

Will share more photos again yah..

Today just want to post some photos of Baby Moon – Jun Ling and share with my  family and friends. Yeah~ I seldom update her photos as I’m too busy Guess her grandpa, aunties and uncles in Malaysia miss her a lot.. Hehe..

Enjoy yah!

She is writing on Words. She can recognize A-Z now!

Using mouse to control~~

Ok, she likes Mamee.. not healthy food yah! Haa.. Is Mummy Moon's fault!

Yeah! So happy enjoying the snack!

The lastest new books for her.. She is writing well~ Hehe..

Play and Learn! Good Sticker book to enjoy the time with her!

I want to try this~~ Haa

Listening to?? Hehe..

Well~ She knows how to drive by herself! We never teach ok..

Not a bad driver yah! Haaa~~

Ok, here’s the photos and let’s share again next time.

Baby Moon learns from Little Reader too! Click the banner below to learn more.

I finally get the BrillKids Little Reader and let my girl tried the lessons last night. BrillKids Online Learning Program is introduced by a friend from Hong Kong and after I studied the site and the program, I find that the program is good for early learning. Yah, my Baby Moon is 3 years old and no longer a “baby” but I don’t think she knows all the basic simple words in the program. I should have know about early education earlier before she was born! Anyway, now is not too late. I get the Little Reader and I believe she is going to benefit from the learning and I’m going to implement for my newborn too! *I’m going to give birth soon *

Baby Moon is concentrating on the learning

Learning New Word! *Wave*

Ok, Times Up! She feels tired! Haa..

Stop to let your kids learn when they feel tired or lost concentration. Learning is the same as playing. Don’t let them feel that learning is difficult. As parents, we should let them feel that learning is always fun!

Oh.. Little Reader is user friendly.. Capture a screenshot for you to take a look!

I’ve get the discount voucher from BrillKids to share with my friends here so that you can get a good rate for this program to your kids too! If you yet to get the discount voucher from me, get from me now. If you already have the voucher, just go their site to find out more and of course you can always use their free trial! I’m sure your baby love it too!

Get 10 Ebooks + BrillKids Voucher NOW! (It’s valid from 1st Sept to 30th Nov 2009)

Do you know that our babies actually can read before 1 year old? I never know about this until I come across this site: Brillkids. They have good system to foster early learning.

Take a look at this video:

Also, they have lots of free stuffs and you may use their free trial!

Click here – BrillKids.com

Another good news! I’ve get discount voucher from them and especially to share with you! If you want the voucher, just fill up the form below, you will get 10 free Ebooks and the Voucher. If you already subscribe to it earlier, don’t worry, just check your email, I have sent out the voucher to you.

Get 10 Ebooks + BrillKids Voucher NOW! (It’s valid from 1st Sept to 30th July 2010)

Hope you enjoy!

Can preverbal babies learn to read? And if so, how?

From as young as 4 months old, babies are capable of learning to read – and they do it by learning whole words. Whole-word reading describes the process whereby a person recognizes a word at sight, without sounding out the individual letters.

According to Kathy Hirsh-Pasek and Roberta Michnick Golinkoff, coauthors of Einstein Never Used Flash Cards, “[Whole-word reading] is simply memorization and has little merit beyond the performance.”

This conclusion is drawn at the end of an anecdote from Hirsh-Pasek about a reading toddler. The child read a set of words shown to him by his mother, but says Hirsh-Pasek, when asked to read some different words, he became flustered. Write the authors, “He had learned how to memorize words, perhaps from their shape… but he had not really learned to read.”

Critics of early reading tend to pit whole-word reading (”bad”) against phonics-based reading (”good”). Hearing their arguments, you’d be forgiven for thinking it’s a case of either-or. In reality, almost all children learning to read depend on both strategies. Whole-word reading is easier, so most children learn their first words this way, before they know the sounds letters make. Many kindergarten and lower-grade-school teachers teach some sight words before starting on phonics.

When children learn to read whole words at what is considered a normal age, no one criticizes them. But some people find it unsettling, “wrong” even, for a very young child to be reading – and so they attack the method in order to prove that the child isn’t “really” reading.

Whole-word reading is just the first rung on the ladder of learning to read – as we can see from an analogy drawn by another early-learning critic, David Elkind. Elkind compares reading whole words to understanding the concept of nominal numbers (numbers as names) – the first rung on the ladder of learning math. He compares reading phonetically (sounding out words) to understanding the concept of ordinal numbers (numbers as part of a sequence), and reading phonemically (recognizing that letters can be pronounced differently depending on context) to understanding the concept of interval numbers (numbers as abstract concepts).

There comes a point at which reading cannot progress without phonics – there are just too many words to rely on memory alone. Children must move on to phonetic reading followed by phonemic reading in order to become successful readers. But just as we do not criticize a child who reads phonetically but has not graduated to the phonemic level, so it seems unfair to pour scorn on the abilities of a toddler who simply has not graduated from whole-word reading to phonetic reading.

Another concern expressed by critics of whole-word reading is that children will not know to read words from left to right. When choosing a TV- or computer-based program for your child, be sure to select one that includes an arrow for indicating the direction of reading. If you’re using cards or books, it’s a good idea to run your finger under each syllable of every word as you read out words.

Amazingly, babies taught to read whole words often begin figuring out the rules of phonics for themselves – in much the same way as babies learning their native language spontaneously figure out grammar rules. A new teaching-reading system for babies includes a specially designed phonics program aimed at facilitating the young child’s natural ability at decoding words. More proof that when it comes to teaching reading, it’s not a case of either-or – you can teach whole words and phonics right from the get-go.

Please visit BrillKids.com to learn more about teaching your baby to read.

Raising a child doesn’t come with a book of instructions.  If it did, the task would be much easier.  Facing the teenage years with your son or daughter is not something most parents look forward to.  This article will help you take the experience one day at a time and learn how to bridge the communication gap.

As your child goes from toddler to youngster to tween to teenager, something in what you say gets lost in translation.  They can give you that blank stare as if the words that are coming out of your mouth sound like the unseen teacher in the Charlie Brown cartoons.

It’s not easy to improve the communication bridges with a teen but it’s important to try to get through as these years and the choices they make now will have a vital impact on their future.

Here are a few tips to help you get started:

1. Watch your body language. How you move says a lot about you.  When a person is tired, they tend to slump.  When angered, your jaw muscles tighten and your eyes narrow into slits.  Believe it or not, teenagers are good at interpreting body language.  Yours will betray you when you are talking to them.  Keep it open and honest.  Avoid sitting with your arms crossed, eyes looking away from them or squirming in your seat.

2. Make eye contact. When you don’t look at the person you are talking to it says that you are either hiding something or you are not at all interested in what they have to say.  Your teenager will shut down emotionally when they suspect that you are not “tuned in” to them.  Sit comfortably and give your teen undivided attention with consistent eye contact.  It lets them know that you care.

3. Keep your emotions in check. Remember back to when you were a teenager.  Some of the things you said to your parents were aimed at freaking them out.  Teenagers will push your buttons if they can.  Don’t go overboard and get upset.  Their target is the situations they know make you mad.  Instead, take a deep breath and ignore the taunt.  Do the opposite of what they expect because really, they want you to see through their ploy and find out the real problem.

4. Ask them about their day. This technique works with spouses also.  Even if your teen only grunts or says the obligatory, “It was okay,” ask anyway.  Your show of caring will go a long way to convince them that you are interested in the things that they do and how they feel.

5. Be honest with them. If you don’t understand the situation they are talking about then say so.  Kids know when you are being insincere.  Discuss the situation until you get an idea of where they are coming from.  Your teen won’t mind explaining as long as they know you are listening.

6. Allow them their privacy. This one is tricky and since you know your child better than anyone else, you can draw the line.  Teens value their time alone.  While the policy in your home may be that there are no locks on the doors, always show respect by knocking before entering.  If they don’t want to be pressed about a situation in school, wait until they are ready (if it’s not urgent) and then talk about it.

Parenting a teenager takes a tough skin, a willingness to be vulnerable and lots of love.  You will make mistakes but whatever you do, don’t ever stop talking.