Nathan's ... ...

Miss 4 just came over and said “Daddy, I tell you a secret”. I am shocked. Wow, she can express this now?

Miss 3 can sing New Zealand National Anthem (the Maori version)

I’m very impressed and very proud.

Tooth Brushing

Don’t know since when, my 3 year old stopped being a fan of tooth brushing (she used to love it). She will do whatever to get away from it. Being it’s screaming, chucking her hand/arm in her mouse, or saying “I want to go to bed” (yeah right!).

Most of the time when it happened, my strategy have been pretty brutal. I persuade, I trick, I threaten, I yell and I force (not doing very well here). But tonight, I tried a different way, Distraction, and it worked great. 

She started the usual “I don’t want to” approach, then crying and screaming to tell us how bad she didn’t want to brush her teeth. My patience is running out (fast). I was just about to burst, I remembered an article I read few days ago. It’s about how to manage employees when they made mistake. One thing the author said was DO NOT YELL (he also mentioned “disappointed dad” approach, but Nancy is too young to get that). So I held my temper and kept trying. Suddenly I remember she was curious about my lip moisturizer this morning. So I brought her that, applied a bit on her lips. The funny thing was, she immediately stopped crying and complied until the teeth were properly brushed. 

Now I am thinking, I could have yell or threaten again to achieve the same goal earlier. But this was much better solution, because I felt happier this way and I am sure so did Nancy.

Saying Goodbye

Saying goodbye to people you love (and who equally love you) is really really hard. 

Nancy’s had her last day at the nursery yesterday because from next Monday she will be going to the pre-school. It was an emotional day for all of us. Colleen (Nancy’s teacher) and my wife started crying in the middle of a sentence and couldn’t go on. And she still crying at the dinner table when spoke to me about it.

It has been a year and a half since Nancy started at the nursery. It has been challenging along the way for all of us. But knowing there is someone you can trust certainly make the whole process a lot of easier. To Nancy, she needed someone she could trust and rely onto as well and she certainly got that from the nursery.

One of the many advantages of starting kindy early is the opportunities to interact with other children. Being the only child at home, Nancy certainly got the idea of sharing, caring and playing with others. Other activities like painting, drawing certainly helps her to explore her artistic potential and the list goes on and on. We glad that the nursery provided all the opportunities.

The Chinese proverb says “there is no everlasting banquet”. As much as we love Nancy to stay in the most comfortable environment, we also like her to explore the world and life more. Saying goodbye is hard, but we also looking forward to the future. Thank you everyone for helping Nancy along the way, we deeply appreciate it.