I gently opened the curtains in Bing Bing's room. Slowly the sun rays went through the window and filled the whole room with sunshine.
Bing Bing laughed so happily when she saw the sun lights:
"Look! Look! Mommy look! I can see the lights!"
She went on and on about the sun and the lights until we got to our car making our way to her music class. Bing Bing suddenly explained:
"Mommy! When the sun wakes up, the moon goes to sleep! I can't see the moon when the sun wakes up. The stars also go to sleep."
Alan and I were shocked. Since when could she make such long sentences and since when could she make such beautiful expression of a natural event? Bing Bing now understood the concept of reocurrence.
Auckland in August is moody. It rains in a blink of an eye before the sun shines all around and rains again without much warning. Bing Bing was playing puzzles in our living room when it started to rain.
"What are you doing near the window, Bing Bing?"
"I'm seeing the rain"
I took her up to her room for changing. As a wonderful observant she was, she looked out her window and puzzled:
"It's raining here too Mommy?!"
"When it rains I can't see the lights Mommy" - Bing Bing continued before I could explain. What a great observation I thought. She must have remembered the sun lights going through her window in the morning.
"That's right Bing Bing. Maybe the sun is taking a nap when it rains."
Bing Bing's facial expression was priceless. One curious child she was. She now was able to make connection between events. She is connecting the dots...
Alan and I have been teaching Bing Bing a variety of opposites. You know, old-new, empty-full, tall-short etc. She's been doing so great with those concepts through puzzles and comparisons. It's much easier teaching opposite concepts. It's a lot harder to teach something in between. Been teaching her the "medium" concepts for two weeks now. Usually when serving food, I asked Bing Bing if her food is hot or cold, for instance, as an exercise to learn opposites.
"Is your rice hot Bing Bing?"
"It's not hot, it's warm" - Amazing I thought.
"Is the water hot or cold Bing Bing" - I asked when I drew her a bath
"Water's not hot, it's warm" - Wonderful I have succeeded.
Similar means of "medium" concept have been introduced: three sticks with different lengths, three circles with different sizes for Bing Bing to sort out.
"This is long, this is short. This is not too long not too short" - She mumbles as she sorts
"This is big, this is small. This is not too big not too small".
Oh, how could I forget. Another new breath of development for Bing Bing this month was her ability to ask this question that made us all speechless:
"Mommy, this is my Daddy, this is not your Daddy. Where's your Daddy?"
"Ong Phong is my Daddy, dear." I answered.
"Ba Binh is your Mommy or Daddy's Mommy?" - She asked. We went speechless. How could a 2 year old ask such a difficult question involving a very complex relationship?
One last thing that has been very handy for me. Bing Bing has now understood the concept of before and after. For toddler it was impossible to grasp this simple concept. For them there is only NOW or NEVER. That's why when they want something they've gotta have it now. If it's not now it means never. So they cry no matter how hard the parents explain "you can have ice cream after dinner".
"I have my rice first and I have my sua chua okay Mommy?" - YES! She's got it.
"I sleep now and I see Elsa and Anna later okay Mommy?" - Couldn't ask for more!
It's so much easier now to make a deal and explain to Bing Bing what needs to happen first before something else can happen. She really gets it!
It was truly amazing to witness and experience Bing Bing's new level of development and knowledge. She's started asking questions like "What is this Mommy?" and while I'm excited that she asked I'm nervous that in no time it's going to be real challenging to fulfil her curious mind :)
A proud mother
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