reuse + recycle

In the spirit of "reuse + recycle" and the whole general concept of utilising everyday things around the house, I found the Z-boy in this state on his bed sometime last week.

:: busy arranging ::

I had asked him to practice some maths - addition and subtraction work. As I juggle my time between the two Zs (just two and already they make quite a circus the pair of them!), I often find myself not able to sit down with the Z-boy while he does some written work. Normally, I can manage some 10 minutes before having to watch over the Z-girl, who's determined to be the busiest 14-month old girl this side of town. Honestly, there's the bookshelves, the toy boxes, the kitchen cupboards (where only plastic containers are stored), the cushions on our sofas - all of which she sees her responsibility to fiddle with, arrange and rearrange a good dozen times a day. To save all from accidents and falls, I must have at least 3 pairs of eyes on her at all times. That'll be my real eyes, my glasses and that magical pair of eyes moms normally have at the back of our heads. ;-)

Back to the Z-boy then ...

He had taken a stack of his Thomas and Friends books (ones he no longer reads since "Thomas is not cool anymore, Mummy") and laid them out on his bed, adding to and taking away from the whole lot where appropriate. I wouldn't say it was the most affective method to the sums. He was very much into the play part of arranging and tossing away of books. But it also got him finishing 4 pages of sums that afternoon with no complaints.

He did pause a few times though when suddenly realising he's got a certain book. Kind of like how the Mummy is when trying to toss out old clothes ... pauses a bit to reminisce how a particular shirt once fit her so well or how she bought it on her way back from college all those many years back (a little too sentimental at times, yes).

:: ready to toss a book away ::

:: recording the answer ::

That's the tale then of how the Z-boy practiced some "reuse + recycle" concept into his homework. Old stuff put to new use.

Do you have a greener "reuse + recycle" tale to tell? I'm sure you do. Do share! :-)

wordplay

I'm possibly one of the few moms around this end of the world (the competitive Asian end :P) who hasn't yet enrolled the Big Z in some enrichment class after school hours. Aside from reading books, the most extra bits he does will be the workbooks and some random homemade-by-me worksheets. In a good week, it'll be a daily thing. On a not-so-good week (shame on the mommy too), it'll be say twice a week.

Off late though, when it comes to copywriting work, he gets a wee bit too cheeky. The Daddy begs to differ though, citing his cheekiness as a sign of intelligence. Hmm ... we'll see. So, what I've spotted to date (some that i can recall, that is), were the following:

:: he had to write the word "saw" under a picture of a saw ... he wrote the word, but then flanked the 'saw' with two other words. it then became a simple short sentence "I saw you". ::

:: the word was 'well', under a picture of a well, yes. not too generous with his words this time, he added just one word before 'well'. more of a statement, it read "not well". ::

:: writing the names of animals' young ones ... when it came to a goat's lil one, instead of writing just 'kid', he wrote "skid". the illustration was of a running kid, so he possibly found the word 'skid' somewhat apt? ::


Little things then to illustrate further just how my 5 year old is by nature. Give him a task, he'll do it, yes. How he does it is a different story though. I still say it's his way of annoying me and the Daddy still says it's the genius in his son showing through.