Towards a New Direction

Dominique Thoughts

It’s the first week of January. A new year, new resolutions and new routine. Even though I have sketched out a rough plan of what I intend to do for the year but there is still must detailing to be done.  There are a few plans which I need to finalize and lesson schedules for each kid which I need to draw up.

Ryan

He is now in formal school and will be having a heavier workload. This year besides guiding him in his schoolwork I am going to be focusing more on faith formation, language development ( Japanese and Cantonese), musical literacy,character building and home economics. Being the eldest he has to be groom to shoulder a heavier set of  responsibilities then his siblings.I have to be stricter with him as his siblings see him as a role model and would imitate both the good and bad traits which he may display. I hope to reduce (eliminate) any negative or ill behaviour of his which may rub onto Roy. At 6yrs old he is well aware what types of behaviour and action are acceptable and what is not.

I hope in time to come he will be able to mentor and assist his younger siblings. It is quite a tall order for him to achieve but I am sure he will be able to meet up to the challenges that he may face.

Roy

Roy is now at a “stubborn” age.  He can be extremely defiant at times and insists of doing things his own way. It can be very trying getting him to understand my point of view at this age. For everytime I tell him to turn right he would argue why we are not turning left instead. He is bent on mentioning and insisting on the opposite thing. It can be very frustrating but I am not giving up trying to reduce his temper tantrums and getting him to be more understanding.   I guess that it will take some time for him to get adjusted to being the middle child and I should focus more on him and his achievements so that he doesn’t feel left out.

I am going to do more reading with him to increase his literacy. We may also do more arts & crafts together as he does like doing hands on activities more then Ryan.

Riona

She is getting extremely vocal now. She can respond to you when you call her name or talk to her. She would either smile or make ” ehh” or “Orrr” noises when you ask her a question. Riona also loves experimenting with her voice and can scream extremely loudly to get your attention when she is bored.  She is starting to flip and I will be giving her more tummy time to strengthen her muscles. We will start on the alphabet and more nursery rhyme singing. Time for me to go through and refresh my memories on all the songs I used to sing to the boys when they were little.

What will you be doing with your kids this year?

I will be doing a review at the end of each month to see how each boy has progress and report on the girl as she reaches each milestone

Feel Good Friday- I survived the week

Dominique Thoughts

It’s finally Friday!! School is out for the week and the next two days I do not need to worry about getting the boys to their school bus on time.  Shuttling the kids in and out the door four times a day, cooking and cleaning after them has been exhausting.

Every day starts out with  getting the boys uniforms laid out and preparing breakfast before waking everyone up. I have to keep a eye on the clock to make sure that Roy gets to his school bus on time as he leaves earlier then his brother. After sending of the little brother it is grocery shopping time if we need to stock up for the week.  Both Ryan and Riona will accompany me to the buy the groceries. We have to make it a quick trip as the girl fusses quite a bit if we stay out too long as she is still on a 2hr feeding cycle.

Once home I have to put the laundry to wash, prepare lunch and check if Ryan has completed his homework and music practice before he goes off to school after lunch.  After sending the eldest off to school it is time for doing the laundry and other chores while spending time teaching the girl. I’ve started introducing the Japanese alphabet to her and from next week we will be doing music and movement on top of our regular schedule.

If the girl is sleeping I’ll be folding the clothes and doing my Wii Active Sports  15-20 min workout. I’m hoping that this short time I set aside to do some exercise daily will help in my weight lost regime. (I’m aiming to lose the remaining 14 kg before Riona turns 6mths old in 3 mths time. )

After a short break checking my e-mails and writing posts to my blog it would be time to prepare and cook dinner before the boys return home. Once they return it is back to making sure they finish their dinner, have their bath, complete their homework before it’s lights out for them.

How is your daily schedule like?