Upgraded!

Hehehe.. funny title. Anyways, just to let you know that lil C has graduated from Family Music for Toddlers (FMT) to The Cycle of Seasons (CS). Not sure what am I talking about? Once I posted about lil C's music exposure in this blog. I am talking about his musikgarten class. :)

What's the different? Well, FMT [photos] is simulates musical instrument between parents & child (as parents are requested to accompany the child) where as in CS [photos], children are more independant when in the class. I was in his class today, it was so exciting seeing the kids learning music in a very creative way..

I cant wait to enroll Baby C into the Family Music for Babies (FMB). Not being kiasu, but I saw the benefits from koko after the classes.. I would like baby to enjoy music as much as his koko does. :)

If y ou are interested, you can click here for more info.

p.s: Have you read about the Mozart Effect?

Music Exposure

Lil C was exposed to music when he was in Mama's tummy. We would play soft peaceful songs / music all night long. When he was born, he responded those songs by sleeping/resting soundly. We believed that he recognised those song long before.

As he was growing up, we noticed that lil C was very much music inclined. He loves banging the pots and pans, and make uses of chopsticks/pencils or anything similar as drumsticks. He told us that he wants to learn to play drum.

There's a game we play, also lil C's favourite called guessing sound game. When I heard a sound that lil C might recognise, like a plane's / helicopter's engine, I would instruct him to close his eyes and guess what sound does he hear. He is able to distinguish the two sound well, this activity also trains the little ear to polish his auditory skills.

Lil C able distinguish different musical instrument's sound , like the piano / guitar / drum; trumpet / trombone / tuba / flute / recorder / horn; violin / cello; maraccas etc to name a few. He also knows the basic songs of Mozart, Bach, Beetoven (but he doesnt know who they are yet), thanks to Baby Einstein's.

And now, it has been almost a year he attends FMT music class at musikgarten. It's not teaching the kids playing piano or any specific musical instrument. The kids will listen / sing / dance to beautiful songs as well as getting hands-on with percussions (Blocks/jingles/drum/guiro/triangle etc) as it helps the kids grow musically, emotinally, socially & cognitively.

He enjoys the 30 minutes / once session a week class very much. Sometimes, he will do the same at home, copycat what the trainers did during class. It is also a parent-child bonding as it is compulsary for the parent to sit with the kid. (Imagine, some parents would ask the maid to seat next to the kid, while parents sitting comfortably outside of the room). Baby C also benefits as we tag him along too. Maybe when he is 6 months old, we would like to enrol him for the Family Music Babies course.

It is important for children to realize that music is always the result of body movements. Even if there are natural sounds, children need to understand that music is produced by human beings using various muscles of the mouth, hands and arms. They should know how many different instruments there are and should have the opportunity to witness how musicians control their gestures so as to obtain different musical sounds.
— Dr. Silvana Montanaro

We are 4 years old!!

It's our 4th year wedding anniversary... and guess how we spent it this time?

Due to hubby's limited time of planning, we had to cancel our plans to stay at Rasa Ria Resort. Instead, we planned to visit the Wild Life Park (again) for the sake of lil C.. He just love going there..

Well, it was pouring cats and dogs that morning.. and lil C was sleeping soundly after late night sleep celebrating PohPoh's 71st birthday the night before at TATU. We didnt manage to go to Mass. Hubby sent his parents to the Airport early in the morning as they were going away for a vacation. We had 'kim-chee-mein' (economy noodle) my FIL bought for breakfast, while waiting lil C to wake up. Then, had a 'romantic-less' lunch with BIL & gf at Olde Station Kopitiam.

Since it was still raining, again, we had to cancelled our Zoo trip and instead spending time window shopping at Warisan Square & Karamunsing. We amused ourself by buying a mini-drum set & an Oral-B electric toothbrush for lil C.. hahahah!

The irony about buying this drumset was that, abelle & her son too, was looking at the drumset and bought one for Isaiah (More like her BIL got it..hehehe) What a coincidence!

having a break at Kupi-bin, while hubby couldnt get his eyes of the Golf Tournament shown on TV

Lil C cant wait to go home, "Let's Go, Papa.. Let's go.. urgghhh" trying to carry the drumset box.
Papa said that he wanted to watch the last hole first... Duh!

Posing with chubby MaMa & his drumset

The Happiest Kid!!! while PaPa was fixing his drum
He kept repeating how much he like his drum.. Sweet SMilin' u two!

Let's Rock and Roll...
"MaMa, U play Guitar!!"

Dinner time, we went to "MONKEY SHOP" as lil C described it. His fav dinner is at the Brass Monkey.. For some reason, he enjoys eating there and that is the only place where he would actually sit down quitely, eating his 3 course meal ~ appetiser, spagghetti & dessert! No way will he behave as such anywhere else..

Happy Anniversary dear... The happiest day in my life, to be able to spend time with the two of you...
Hey, we still havent eaten the last piece of our wedding cake..!!!!! Its still in the freezer!! yaiks!

Lil Musician

While we were in Singapore, we stumble upon this group of teenagers playing percussions.
Enjoy the movie shots.



And here's my lil imitator!